The Los Angeles Dodgers created plenty of buzz while pursuing Tarik Skubal, and even after they landed him, the conversation shifted to criticism over their growing dominance. Many fans pointed to a competitive imbalance, accusing the Dodgers of using their financial muscle to land the sport’s biggest stars. But in his first media appearance after the trade, Tarik Skubal was having none of it.

“Every team could trade for me,” he said. “I don’t sympathize with people who blame the Dodgers for anything they’ve done. It’s a winning org,” Skubal was quoted by ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, as reported by Yahoo Sports. “I really don’t sympathize with people who are complaining because the Dodgers do all the right things.”

Tarik Skubal originally signed a one-year, $32 million deal with the Detroit Tigers, and many assumed he would be traded at the deadline. Other than the Dodgers, teams such as the Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, and even the New York Yankees were linked to the 29-year-old. While several teams could have made a trade for him, it was Los Angeles that sent three of its top prospects to acquire Skubal.

The conversation changed direction as soon as the Dodgers made that deal, given that they already have one of the most elite and star-studded rosters in the league. That’s why many argued that the Dodgers’ deep pockets make it far too difficult for several other teams to remain competitive. Some fans even pointed to that as a reason to implement a salary cap in MLB.

The Dodgers are infamous for, according to many rival executives, spending aggressively. They have a payroll exceeding $400 million this year, including taxes, and the disparity between them and many small-market teams is more than $200 million. The club acquired Skubal despite already having stars such as Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tanner Scott, Kyle Tucker, and Edwin Díaz on the roster. The fact that they did so without depleting their farm system only reinforced those arguments.

But several insiders like Ken Rosenthal and Fernando Álvarez have countered, saying money isn’t the issue here. They pointed to LA’s execution and conviction, along with its financial resources. Rosenthal even said the Dodgers are doing the same things as other teams—”scouting, developing, trading, and every other aspect of a baseball operation.”

He mentioned that they have become the standard by doing all of this better, and Álvarez emphasized that the Dodgers are playing by the rules. As long as MLB allows those rules to remain in place, the back-to-back World Series champions will continue to capitalize on them.

Both agreed that the Dodgers were simply more aggressive than other teams. Many Brewers fans also acknowledged that Milwaukee had the farm system to beat LA’s offer for Skubal.

That’s why the ace himself has so little patience for the complaints. He knows that the Dodgers didn’t break any rule to bring him in. While he had an emotional departure from Detroit, he refuses to buy into the criticism of his current team.