Andrew Friedman was not about to tip his hand.

“I don’t know,” he quipped Wednesday, when asked what the odds were that the Dodgers would add a star-level player before Monday’s trade deadline. 

“I’m not in the handicapping business.”

That doesn’t mean, however, the team’s president of baseball operations isn’t prepared to take a gamble.

For what felt like the umpteenth time in recent weeks, Friedman trotted out some familiar company lines while discussing the Dodgers’ trade deadline plans in a news conference Wednesday.

He said the team has no “acute needs” to address before trade activity freezes on Monday. That the club is confident its pitching staff will be fully healthy for the stretch run of the season. That the team isn’t intent on doing anything drastic as it pursues a third straight World Series over the rest of the year.

But when asked if the Dodgers could be aggressive for a top trade target –– say, ahem, like Tigers ace Tarik Skubal –– Friedman also didn’t say no.

Under his leadership, the Dodgers never do.

“I think our mindset is always, and we’ve talked about this, there just aren’t that many star-level players in the game,” he said. “Any time one is available, we’re always going to participate in those conversations. We’ve shown to be very aggressive in the past.”

Exactly how hard the Dodgers will push in the Skubal sweepstakes, of course, is a predominant storyline in Los Angeles and around the sport leading up to the deadline.

Rival clubs see the Dodgers as a serious threat for the two-time Cy Young Award winner. Friedman, speaking generally, noted how the Dodgers’ perenially stocked farm system allows them “to talk to any team basically about any player.”

And over the next several days, the Dodgers and Tigers will undoubtedly be talking.

With Detroit fading from contention, and the likelihood of Skubal getting dealt seemingly going up, every expectation is that the Dodgers will attempt to see if there’s a trade the sides could line up on.

“We’re always of the mind of trying to do everything we can to put ourselves in the best position to win,” Friedman said. “Sometimes we’re fortunate enough to line up on things, sometimes not … We try to do everything we can to avoid not having to do something [at the deadline]. But when you’re able to be in a position to be a little bit more selective and opportunistic about what potentially is available, it just puts you in a better position. So as much flexibility as we can have, the better.”

The Dodgers have been steadfast that, however this deadline plays out, they will be in a strong position come October.

This week, they activated Kiké Hernández and Edwin Díaz off the injured list. Tyler Glasnow is set to begin a rehab assignment after facing hitters for the second time in live batting practice on Wednesday afternoon, while Blake Snell was nearing the end of his own with a scheduled four-inning outing Wednesday night. Will Smith is also pain-free and finally ramping up again, with the club satisfied that his lingering neck injury is finally behind him.

Shohei Ohtani’s status as a pitcher is more of a question, with the two-way star currently limited only to plyo-ball activities to keep pressure off his ailing left knee.

But even that, Friedman insisted, isn’t creating any extra deadline urgency; with the veteran executive noting Wednesday that Ohtani’s knee injury “keeps getting better” and that his coinciding biceps issue is not a serious concern.

“If it weren’t for the knee, he would be pitching right now,” Friedman said. “The fact that it does keep improving suggests that we’re on the right path and feel very confident that he will be back.”

Ideally, it means the Dodgers hope to have the same postseason rotation of Ohtani, Snell, Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto that carried them to a title last year. That would also allow others such as Justin Wrobleski and Roki Sasaki to be shifted to the bullpen in the playoffs, further bolstering a relief corps that figures to be significantly stronger now that Díaz has returned in the closer role.

For most teams, such encouraging circumstances would rule out a big splash for a rental pitcher, even one as talented as Skubal.

The Dodgers, though, are not like most teams.

And with the opportunity to complete a historic three-peat lying in front of them, Friedman sounded like he was ready to at least dabble at the top of the market and see if the club could execute another blockbuster move to enhance its already auspicious championship chances.

Not because they need to. Not simply to keep someone like Skubal away from another team, either (“If I was so concerned about a player going to another team,” Friedman said, “I’d probably want that player and then I would just acquire that player.”)

But rather, because any time there is a needle-moving player available on the market, the Dodgers are “always open-minded,” Friedman said.