The MLB trade deadline market lacks a blockbuster name in play. That may be about to change. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles, two first-place teams who know they are not October ready, have the same name at the top of their shopping list: left-handed ace Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers.
Sources from the Dodgers and Orioles confirmed they are interested in putting together packages loaded with top prospects for Skubal. There is no indication yet whether Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris will move Skubal, though both Los Angeles and Baltimore have the rich prospect capital to make such a trade discussion interesting.
Harris believes the Tigers have a developing pitching corps that is the center of the [team’s rebuild] and does not want to disrupt it, according to a source familiar with his thinking. Skubal, 27, with two years of team control after this season, is the foundation piece. But Detroit lacks enough impact hitters to contend. The source said it is doubtful the Tigers move Skubal but added, “Everything has a price.”
Trading Skubal would be analogous to when the Washington Nationals traded Juan Soto to the San Diego Padres with 2.5 years of control at the 2022 deadline to jumpstart their rebuild. As part of that deal Washington received four of the Padres’ top nine prospects: shortstop CJ Abrams, outfielders Robert Hassell III and James Wood and pitcher MacKenzie Gore, as well as pitcher Jarlin Susana.
Trading a homegrown ace with contractual control is a rarity. Harris’s decision comes down to two factors: One, how soon does he believe the Tigers can contend for a championship with the talent they have on hand? And two, how tempting do the packages get from Los Angeles and Baltimore?
My first thought was no ■■■■■■■way then I remembered the O’s have the #1 prospect pool in MLB and a rookie of the year lock this year so, yeah, I’d do it for Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holiday and Colton Cowser.
Obviously they arent going to offer those three players so it’s a moot point but that’s what it would take to land Skubal, nothing less. The Doyers dont have enough ammo unless they are willing to part ways with Mookie Betts and that aint happening.
Also, the tigers probably won’t compete for anything meaningful this year, or next year. Which means we would have Skubal for one season while in our window to win.
With Boras being his agent, you can all but forget about him signing an extension before he hits free agency.
Why are the trade packages always “prospects” rather than players who’ve made it in the bigs already? If the Orioles want Skubal, let them promote some of their prospects to their team. I’ll take the non-prospects already in the bigs.
I don’t believe there’s any evidence that’s been shown before that guys are more susceptible to the second after the first and given there’s been so many people now that have done it there should have been a clear pattern arise by now
Well, at least it isn’t Avila still in charge sending out the Tigers best players in exchange for the 17th and 26th best prospects in an organization.
While I’m personally very opposed to trading him, I think that if the plan is to trade him eventually and not pay him that we should just go ahead and trade him for a bigger package now.
The Orioles have 3 top 15 overall prospects that all profile to be legitimate All-Star bats. If we can get 2 of those, plus one of their top 2 pitching prospects (who both should be quality starters) then we would be doing really good.
I just doubt the Orioles would go that high, and I doubt the Tigers would take anything less.
At the end of the day, I fully expect to see Skubal in a Tiger uniform this year, and next. If we are still in rebuild mode in 2026, he will probably be the top rental on the market, and we will get far less compensation.
I don’t think paying Skubal will be an issue, even with Boras as the agent.
I do wonder, if we trade Flaherty and Mize is out longer than expected, if that increases the odds of Jobe getting a few starts yet this season.
Manning is inconsistent, really good, really bad, avg all within the same start at times. Not sure who else Detroit has as a starter in AAA that could step up.
Would be nice to see Maeda continue his recent relief performance as a starter but that is a ways off.
Remember Boras Mike I got along well which I realize doesn’t translate to Chris but also doesn’t mean they won’t resign him. I’m not as worried about Chris spending when the time comes.
I would offer Skubal a deal this offseason to lock him up for a couple of arbitration years and perhaps 2 or 3 additional years. Slight reduction in contract dollars due to buying off his 2yrs of arbitration, which will be expensive not matter what.
