Andrew Friedman became the latest member of the Dodgers organization to defend an MLB rule that allows Shohei Ohtani to effectively be an extra pitcher on the team’s roster.

Inan interview with AM 570that aired Sunday morning, the club’s president of baseball operations acknowledged that Ohtani’s two-way status –– which prevents him from being counted as one of the 13 pitchers the Dodgers are allowed to carry on their roster –– is “certainly an advantage” for the team.

“But it should be an advantage,” Friedman argued. “What Shohei does and what he is capable of is so unique, it should be rewarded. It should be celebrated.”

Andrew Friedman: “It felt very random and strange he felt the need to bring it up.”@THEREAL_DVtalks with Andrew Friedman about the Ohtani rule and Craig Counsell’s comments.pic.twitter.com/q9LS7W5tix

Friedman’s comments came in the wake of recent discourse around the baseball industry over MLB’s 13-pitcher-maximum rule and how Ohtani’s two-way status effectively allows the Dodgers to carry an extra arm.

Cubs manager Craig Counsell has been the most vocal critic. Last week, he called Ohtani’s exception tothe rule “bizarre.”On Friday, ahead of the opening game of this weekend’s Dodgers-Cubs series at Dodger Stadium, he doubled downby saying “it is a bad rule.”

“Look, this is not a Dodger thing, it’s not an Ohtani thing,” Counsell said. Yet, he later added, “There’s not another player like that, but one team gets different rules for that player.”

Friedman pushed back on that narrative in his radio interview, noting how “it felt very random and strange to me [that Counsell] felt the need to bring it up.”

When MLB instituted its rule that limits teams to having only 13 pitchers on their 26-man active rosters in 2022, Ohtani was still a member of the Angels. At that time, Friedman said, MLB officials surveyed executives from other clubs –– the Dodgers included –– to solicit feedback on the way Ohtani would factor into that roster restriction as a two-way player.

“I said, ‘Look, from a competitive standpoint, as the Dodgers, I don’t love it,’” Friedman recounted. “But wearing my industry hat, what’s best for Major League Baseball? It is to do everything we can for Shohei Ohtani to be in, and stay in, games. And obviously with the 13-pitcher rule, that’s a part of him being able to stay in the game when he pitches.”

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