Dave Roberts Defends Dodgers Against Tarik Skubal Trade Backlash Ahead of 2026 MLB Deadline

Nobody outside of Los Angeles was thrilled to learn that the Los Angeles Dodgers added another star this weekend, trading for superstar pitcher Tarik Skubal.

It's tough to blame the Dodgers for bolstering their championship odds, however.

"It just seems like there's always blowback with us," manager Dave Roberts told reporters on Sunday. "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, you know, arguably the top one or two or three farm systems in baseball. So it's a credit to a lot of people in this organization."

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman also said that he "passionately" disagrees with the narrative that the team is ruining baseball.

Roberts and Friedman's perspective is understandable—the Dodgers are trying to win and are making moves to ensure it happens. But baseball fans being aggrieved by Skubal going to Los Angeles, rather than literally anywhere else, is also understandable.

The Dodgers are tied for the best record in baseball (69-42). They have the second-highest payroll, which would be far higher if they didn't defer so many salaries, a huge factor in allowing them to win consecutive World Series titles. The return for a two-time AL Cy Young-winner—prospects Zhyir Hope, River Ryan and Brady Smith—was relatively modest.

And the Dodgers already had an elite rotation.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto is a legitimate ace and was a World Series MVP. Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani has been one of the best pitchers in the sport, though his health is a concern this season. Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow will return from injury at some point and were fantastic in last season's playoffs. Emmet Sheehan, Justin Wrobleski—literally an All-Star this season—and Roki Sasaki will come out of the bullpen in the playoffs.

It's an absurdity of riches. But it's business as usual in Los Angeles.

"It's special, and 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," Friedman told reporters. "We're going to do everything we can to keep doing what we can to win the last game of the year."

You can't blame the Dodgers for going all out. Perhaps the blame more squarely rests with all of the organizations who refuse to aggressively commit to winning.