No. The Dodgers Aren't Ruining Baseball

By William Gilhooly

Sportz Nation- 8/3/2026

Photos Credits to Luke Hales/Getty Images

The comparisons between Thanos acquiring the final Infinity Stone in Avengers: Infinity War and the Dodgers landing Tarik Skubal have been impossible to ignore. The difference, however, is that unlike the Avengers, who had to resort to time travel to undo Thanos' actions, the Skubal trade was entirely preventable.

And before the inevitable salary cap argument surfaces, no, a salary cap would not have stopped this deal.

The reality is that any of the other 29 Major League Baseball teams could have afforded the remaining $9 million on the reigning, back-to-back American League Cy Young Award winner's contract.

It's easy to point to money as the reason Andrew Friedman has built the Dodgers into a modern dynasty. Yes, baseball's highest payroll has given Los Angeles a distinct advantage, allowing it to sign stars such as Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Kyle Tucker, Blake Snell, and Edwin Díaz in free agency.

But that's not why the Dodgers won the Skubal sweepstakes.

The real advantage, and the one that often gets overlooked, is the organization's unmatched ability to draft and develop talent.

People tend to forget that stars such as Mookie Betts, Tyler Glasnow, Manny Machado, Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, and Tommy Edman weren't acquired simply by writing massive checks. They were acquired because the Dodgers continuously hold one of the deepest farm systems in baseball, giving them the prospect capital to complete blockbuster trades.

Los Angeles has consistently developed players who became established names, including Miguel Vargas, Michael Busch, Oneil Cruz, Keibert Ruiz, Alex Verdugo, and Ryan Pepiot. Since 2022, the Dodgers have never ranked outside the top five in MLB Pipeline's midseason farm system rankings. They currently sit No. 2 in baseball and, even after trading away the organization's No. 5 prospect—and MLB's No. 25 overall prospect Zyhir Hope, along with hard-throwing River Ryan and super utility prospect Brady Smith, they still possess one of the sport's most talented collections of young players.

"It just seems like there's always blowback with us," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Sunday after the Skubal trade. "People are passionate. We feel good about it. There's nothing that we did that no one else couldn't have done. I just love our front office. We have to have the players to go pull something like this off, and we've still got, arguably, one of the top one, two or three farm systems in baseball. So it's a credit to a lot of people in this organization."

There's no question that baseball's growing spending disparity deserves attention. As large-market clubs continue spending at unprecedented levels while many small-market organizations refuse to meaningfully invest in their rosters, another owners lockout almost feels inevitable.

But what many fans are missing is that the Dodgers aren't the only team capable of making a move like this.

The Tampa Bay Rays, owners of the game's 10th-ranked farm system, and the Milwaukee Brewers, who boast baseball's top-ranked system, both had the prospect capital to match Los Angeles' offer. While neither club was likely to re-sign Skubal long term, especially with labor uncertainty looming, history shows that small-market contenders regularly acquire star players at the deadline without any intention of extending them.

The Rays traded for Nelson Cruz in 2021. The Arizona Diamondbacks landed J.D. Martinez in 2017. The Kansas City Royals acquired Johnny Cueto in 2015. Each move represented a calculated gamble to maximize a championship window, even if it meant taking on additional salary for only a few months.

That's exactly what any contender could have done with Skubal.

Instead, the Dodgers were the team willing, and prepared, to pull the trigger.

Skubal is scheduled to make his first start in Dodger blue Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs. With every ensuing Dodgers win, the calls for a salary cap will grow louder.

Inside the front office, though, none of that matters.

For this organization, the only goal is October.

"It's special," Friedman said of adding Skubal. "We're not going to be flippant about this moment in time and how special this group, this era can be in the history of this incredibly storied organization. We're going to do everything we can to keep doing what we can to win the last game of the year."

That's the part many people still don't want to admit.

The Dodgers didn't land Tarik Skubal because they're the only team that could.

They landed him because they invested in the one resource every team can control: player development.

By William Gilhooly