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LAS VEGAS — The Dodgers have been in contact with Tarik Skubal’s representatives already this offseason. They expect to meet with him “at some point” soon, according to general manager Brandon Gomes.
How their pursuit of the two-time Cy Young Award winner will unfold after that, however, remains unclear.
As MLB’s offseason slowly kicks into gear, the industry is still waiting to see exactly how aggressively the league’s biggest-spending franchise will go after the sport’s biggest free-agent prize.
On Tuesday, at least, Skubal’s free agency was the biggest topic of conversation as Gomes met with reporters during the annual General Managers’ Meetings at the Aria Resort and Casino.
The Dodgers executive said all the expected things: About how much they enjoyed having Skubal after his arrival at the trade deadline this year, about how highly they think of him coming off a fourth straight season in which he posted a sub-3.00 ERA, and about how much he could bolster their chances of recapturing a World Series title in 2027.
But Gomes also stopped short of guaranteeing an all-out effort to re-sign the 30-year-old left-hander, noting that “you kind of have to let things play out to understand what [his free agency] looks like, and if it’s something that we’re gonna ultimately execute.”
Entering the winter, the Dodgers were seen as consensus co-favorites (along with the Mets) in the Skubal sweepstakes, especially after the way he quickly assimilated with the club following his blockbuster trade to Los Angeles in August.
However, there has been a growing sense more recently that the Dodgers might be wary of breaking the bank for the All-Star ace — or, at the least, giving him the kind of long-term, potential $400 million guarantee that he has been widely projected to receive — and could instead prefer something shorter term amid the backdrop of an uncertain CBA negotiation and possible implementation of a salary cap.
Gomes did little to dispel that notion on Tuesday.
He reiterated that the Dodgers are “continuing to see what this all looks like” regarding Skubal’s free agency, “as far as what does our team need? What does the contract look like? Where does he end up? I don’t know.”
He sidestepped a more general question about the club’s comfort level with adding another lucrative long-term contract to their already-bloated future payroll; which, as of now, is projected to be well above the proposed salary cap the league is aiming to introduce in 2028.
“It is always easy to say, at this point in time, what is best for the team,” Gomes said. “But then as you look at the construction of your roster [in the future, it’s about] making sure you’re balancing and not setting yourself up to potentially hit a slow point, or making sure you’re not doing things that disrupt what could potentially be, and what we want [to be], a very long window, and making sure that stays open.”
The only thing Gomes was adamant about was the confidence the Dodgers have in their returning core for 2027, including a starting rotation that will still be headlined by Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and, in some yet-to-be-decided capacity, Shohei Ohtani.
“The floor right now is really high,” Gomes said of the Dodgers’ current starting staff, further touting the growth they expect to see from younger arms like Roki Sasaki, Justin Wrobleski, Emmet Sheehan, and finally healthy Gavin Stone.
“We do have a good amount of depth in our pitching,” he added.
That’s why, for now, the Dodgers seem likely to wait and see how Skubal’s market develops leading up to an all-but-certain Dec. 1 lockout, still weighing how aggressive they will be (or how large of a contract they will be willing to offer) in pursuing a potential reunion with this winter’s top target.
