Dodgers' Friedman Once Texted About MLB Trade Minutes Between Wife Delivering Child

Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman once had an eventful trade deadline as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays' front office.

Milwaukee Brewers general manager Matt Arnold, who previously worked with Friedman on the Rays, revealed his former co-worker navigated through a deadline at the hospital while his wife was in labor.

"Something like the next year, he's at the hospital because his wife is in labor," Arnold told ESPN's Jesse Rogers. "She had a baby on the trade deadline."

Brewers staffers were texting Friedman as the deadline approached, exchanging messages within minutes of his son being born.

"We went back and looked at the time stamp of when he had sent texts and when the baby was born," Arnold said with a laugh, per Rogers. "It was minutes apart. So we asked him what was going on in there?"

"He said she was kind of propped up, and behind her head, he was texting stuff about the trade," he added. "We were like 'Welcome to the world, Zach Friedman.'"

Friedman served as executive vice president of baseball operations in Tampa Bay from 2006-14, eventually becoming the Dodgers' president in Oct. 2014.

Los Angeles has made a postseason appearance in each year he's spent with the team, winning a pair of World Series titles in 2020 and 2024. The Dodgers are off to another strong start this year, holding a seven-game lead atop the National League West with a 56-35 record.

The 2025 MLB trade deadline is on July 31 at 6 p.m. ET.