With Tarik Skubal looming, Andrew Friedman says Dodgers are open-minded with trade deadline

Andrew Friedman was not about to tip his hand.“I don’t know,” he quipped Wednesday, when asked what the odds were that the Dodgers would add a star-level player before Monday’s trade deadline. “I’m not in the handicapping business.”That doesn’t mean, however, the team’s president of baseball operations isn’t prepared to take a gamble.For what felt like the umpteenth time in recent weeks, Friedman trotted out some familiar company lines while discussing the Dodgers’ trade deadline plans in a news conference Wednesday.He said the team has no “acute needs” to address before trade activity freezes on Monday.That the club is confident its pitching staff will be fully healthy for the stretch run of the season.

That the team isn’t intent on doing anything drastic as it pursues a third straight World Series over the rest of the year.But when asked if the Dodgers could be aggressive for a top trade target –– say, ahem, like Tigers ace Tarik Skubal –– Friedman also didn’t say no.Under his leadership, the Dodgers never do.“I think our mindset is always, and we’ve talked about this, there just aren’t that many star-level players in the game,” he said.“Any time one is available, we’re always going to participate in those conversations.

We’ve shown to be very aggressive in the past.”Exactly how hard the Dodgers will push in the Skubal sweepstakes, of course, is a predominant storyline in Los Angeles and around the sport leading up to the deadline.Rival clubs see the Dodgers as a serious threat for the two-time Cy Young Award winner.Friedman, speaking generally, noted how the Dodgers’ perenially stocked farm system allows them “to talk to any team basically about any player.”And over the next several days, the Dodgers and Tigers will undoubtedly be talking.With Detroit fading from contention, and the likelihood of Skubal getting dealt seemingly going up, every expectation is that the Dodgers will attempt to see if the...