Four ways MLB can avoid a lockout after the Tarik Skubal blockbuster trade

Saturday night’s news that the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal brought about a sense of anger, fury and incredulity very rarely seen among baseball fans. Social media exploded with posts cursing Major League Baseball for allowing the two-time defending champions to bolster their roster with one of the sport’s top starting pitchers.

A work stoppage has felt inevitable for months, and the increased calls for a salary cap haven’t helped at all. The Skubal trade, while legal and understandable, is likely to raise pressure on the MLBPA to accept a cap in the name of competitive balance. But let's say Rob Manfred were to ask my opinion on how to best prevent a lockout following the Skubal trade. Here’s where I’d start:

1. Don't punish the Dodgers
2. Keep salary cap talks from derailing the CBA
3. Reward teams that spend
4. Promote stars beyond Los Angeles

Don't punish the Dodgers for playing by the rules

Perhaps it was just my timeline, but I saw several posts on Sunday suggesting that Manfred and Major League Baseball should step in and prevent the Skubal trade, or specifically limit the Dodgers’ ability to sign players. Some of those proposals involved the salary cap, whereas others wanted the league to punish the Dodgers specifically.

Put simply, neither idea is logical or would be good for baseball. The Dodgers are playing within the rules of a broken system that the league and its owners have enabled for decades. Why aren’t more fans outraged by the Guardians’ and Brewers’ reluctance to spend despite being postseason mainstays over the last 20 years? What about the Pirates, who went nearly 10 years without signing a free agent to a multi-year deal?

David Stern never prevented the Heat from forming the Big Three, nor did Adam Silver rule that the Warriors couldn’t sign Kevin Durant. If anything, both moves immensely benefited the NBA because they gave people a reason to hate-watch Miami and Golden State.

There is no indication that Manfred would ever outright keep the Dodgers from adding a specific player. The only time we’ve seen such a situation arise from a league itself was the vetoed Chris Paul-Lakers trade in 2011, and that failed to go through because the NBA owned the then-Hornets. As of August 2026, Major League Baseball does not own any of the 30 franchises.

Don't let the salary cap derail the next CBA

All right, now we’re talking. I’ve seen so many fans and talking heads use the last 30 hours to proclaim that a salary cap would save baseball, conveniently ignoring the fact that the MLBPA remains vocally opposed to a cap or floor. Phillies star Bryce Harper infamously cursed at Manfred in his team's clubhouse last summer when the commissioner broached the idea of a salary cap.

To best save itself, Major League Baseball cannot allow a salary cap conversation to affect the 2027 season. First off, the cap doesn’t mean that teams need to spend, so the Pirates and Rays won’t necessarily be forced to be aggressive in free agency. You’re not going to suddenly see the Rockies or Marlins offer Skubal an eight-year, $300 million contract.

I’m aware that I might be in the minority in opposing a salary cap, but I’d feel this way even if the Dodgers hadn’t traded for Skubal. We’ve watched the Yankees win only a single championship in the last 25 years despite constantly fielding one of the sport’s top payrolls. Go pull up their 2005 or 2011 rosters, which boasted several future Hall of Famers and perennial All-Stars yet failed to advance past the ALDS.

Create better incentives to spend

We’ve already seen Major League Baseball reward teams via the Prospect Promotion Incentive, and I’d like to see something similar with free agents. For the unfamiliar, the PPI applies to prospects who appear on two of the three top 100 prospect rankings released by MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and ESPN. If those prospects win Rookie of the Year or place in the top three in either Cy Young or MVP voting during their first three years in the league, the teams earn another draft pick.

My pitch to Manfred and the MLBPA would be to have those three outlets create their own top-50 free agents list. Then, teams would receive draft picks based on how those players perform, therefore motivating smaller-market teams to sign free agents. Perhaps winning MVP or Cy Young results in a first-round pick, and an All-Star selection, Gold Glove or Silver Slugger means a second-round pick.

Let’s use the Giants as an example. Second baseman Luis Arráez made the All-Star team, so in this proposed scenario, they’d earn a second-round pick despite trading him to the Phillies on Monday morning. Just because the disappointing Giants sold at the deadline doesn’t mean they should be punished for actively trying to improve last winter.

The counter is that it wouldn’t stop the Yankees or Dodgers from pursuing the top free agents, but that’d be the case even with a salary cap.

Stop making baseball all about the Dodgers

Ohtani and the Dodgers will remain the talk of the baseball world regardless of how this season ends, and they’re poised to continue holding that role for the next few years. And to their credit, the sport has definitely done an excellent job turning the likes of Paul Skenes, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Jacob Misiorowski, and Junior Caminero into household names rather than exclusively focusing on Ohtani, Aaron Judge, and Mike Trout.

Granted, this wouldn’t truly help prevent a lockout, but it’d continue to go a long way with fans who are ready to give up on baseball entirely.

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