This is going to trigger a lockout?

If Dodgers signing Tucker pushes owners over edge, it's their problem

- BILL SHAIKIN COLUMNIST

KYLE TUCKER was the potential acquisition who “moved our World Series odds” most of all, Dodgers boss Andrew Friedman said.

(RONALDO BOLANOS Los Angeles Times)

This was pretty audacious, even by the Dodgers' standard.

Their $17-million left fielder flopped last year, so they threw $240 million at another corner outfielder to supplement the three most valuable players already in their lineup.

Still, as Kyle Tucker smiled for the cameras at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday, it was hard to imagine this one man could sign here and take down the 2027 season.

On Tuesday the Athletic quoted one ownership source that portrayed the Tucker signing as a tipping point that made it "a 100 percent certainty" owners would push for a salary cap when the collective bargaining agreement expires this fall. Owners have been complaining about the Dodgers' signings of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell and Tanner Scott, and on and on, and it sounds silly that the signing of one Kyle Daniel Tucker would turn the owners in a direction many of them already indicated they want to go.

"I agree," said the man who signed him, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman.

If baseball comes up with new rules next year, the Dodgers will abide by them. Until then, Friedman said, their "only focus" is on delivering the best possible product to the fans who pack Dodger Stadium every night and shop the team store like crazy. In return, he said, the Dodgers can sell themselves to stars like Tucker.

"A destination spot is where players and their families feel incredibly well taken care of," Friedman said. "If they're playing in front of 7,000 people, they don't feel that as much.