Dodgers' Andrew Friedman Addresses How Impending Lockout Impacts Offseason Plans

This winter will be far from business as usual for MLB.

Apr 11, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman before a game against the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman knows that the looming lockout in Major League Baseball has the potential to change everything about how his team operates moving forward.

While this is not his first time attempting to operate with ongoing negotiations to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement, Friedman understands that the 2027 campaign appears far different from that of seasons past.

“I think any time that there’s a potential for change you have to be aware of that,” Friedman said to The Orange Country Register's Bill Plunkett. “Obviously this isn’t the first time that we’ve gone through an expiring CBA and we know that there are a lot of unknowns associated with that. But what that means obviously we don’t know. We’re preparing and trying to get as organized as we can. What’s not different than any other winter is if an opportunity presents itself that we feel makes sense within the current context of the world, then we’ll jump. We will figure it out as we go.

“We’re definitely not in the business of speculating what will happen. We are preparing per usual in terms of how we line up players and free agents and trade targets. What the rules of engagement are is always subject to change. So we have to be mindful of that. But we have no idea what that means and we’re not going to pretend to know.”

The Dodgers would be one of eight teams required to cut payroll if the latest proposal by MLB for a salary cap were to go through. The MLB Players Association, however, swiftly rejected this offer earlier this month.

MLB Agents Siding With Players Against Salary Cap

The Dodgers have many lucrative contracts on their roster, including starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the current owner of the richest total contract for a full-time pitcher in MLB.

Joel Wolfe, Yamamoto's agent, recently revealed that the majority of agents around MLB stand with the MLBPA in a somewhat unprecedented manner.

“Even the agents get along and are on message for the most part,” Wolfe said to The Athletic. “I’ve never seen that.”

Wolfe also hammered home his point that the agents and MLBPA all seem to be heavily opposed to changing MLB as the only major sports league in North America without a salary cap.

“We have heard a lot of the same stories,” Wolfe said. “Over our dead bodies are we going to accept a cap and further restraints on salaries.”

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