Tarik Skubal to start Wednesday vs. Orioles

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the Dodgers will send outfield prospect Zyhir Hope and right-handed pitching prospects River Ryan and Brady Smith. It was initially reported that Emmet Sheehan was included, but multiple outlets have confirmed he’s not headed to Detroit. Skubal is inarguably one of the best pitchers in baseball and has won back-to-back Cy Young Awards for the Tigers, and he joins Los Angeles with a 2.79 ERA and 116/14 K/BB in his 16 starts this year. The pending free agent will join the loaded Dodgers’ roster as the new ace, and obviously, fantasy managers have no reason to believe he won’t continue to pitch at an elite level now that he’s in Los Angeles rather than Detroit.

Skubal is the largest domino holding up the entire starting pitching market ahead of next week’s deadline. It’ll be fascinating to see whether Detroit hangs on until the last moment or they’re blown away by a “Godfather offer” that forces them to take action prior to Monday when the baseball world puts their proverbial pencils down. According to multiple reports, the Dodgers and Brewers are the overwhelming favorites to land Skubal considering their combination of big-league talent and loaded farm systems. Get your popcorn ready.

We’re sure the baseball world would react favorably to this move, especially with owners using competitive imbalance to push for a salary cap. The Dodgers should get Blake Snell back in the next week or two, and Tyler Glasnow is set to begin a rehab assignment next week, but some health concerns are keeping Shohei Ohtani (knee/bicep) off the mound, Eric Lauer was acquired as a short-term fix, and about Roki Sasaki and Emmet Sheehan have had inconsistent seasons, so the Dodgers may not want to trust them in the postseason. The Dodgers have plenty of prospect hitters to deal to make this work, so another team is going to have to simply beat their offer.

Passan added that Detroit will begin to engage with interested teams in the next day or two. Skubal recorded his 1,000th career strikeout while punching out six and allowing three runs over 6 2/3 innings against the Orioles on Wednesday in what appears to be his final start in a Tigers uniform. The back-to-back Cy Young Award winner left the game with Detroit ahead 7-0, but they still wound up losing to drop four and a half games out of the final AL Wild Card spot. The general consensus, according to Passan, is that the Dodgers and Brewers are the clear frontrunners in the Skubal sweepstakes since they have the volume of prospects and big-league talent to facilitate a deal. Every contending team in baseball should be reaching out to try to land Skubal.

Skubal struck out six and walked one, throwing 92 pitches. He nearly escaped with only one run allowed, but Kyle Finnegan let two inherited runners score. Skubal remains the jewel of Monday’s trade deadline, so this very well might’ve been his final start with the Tigers. Detroit led 7-0 before losing 10-9 in 12 innings, dropping to 51-58 on the season. He began the game by striking out Taylor Ward for the 1,000th K of his career. It remains to be seen who he’ll be pitching for in his next appearance.

The bigger question, according to Passan, is “can they trade Tarik Skubal?” The Tigers want to remain competitive and are not looking for prospects who may take a long time to join the MLB roster, which could make finding a trade partner a bit more complicated. Plenty of teams are interested in Skubal, and it seems that the Tigers are motivated to get a deal done, but some team is going to have to present the perfect combination of players that Detroit simply can’t turn down.

Expressing an interest and being willing to meet the likely high asking prices are two separate things, but it’s interesting to note that the Rays are looking to be aggressive, especially when it comes to pitching. According to Murray, any additional starter the Rays bring in wouldn’t necessarily mean Griffin Jax or Ian Seymour are out of the rotation. Instead, the Rays are looking for pitching depth to help offset innings and injury concerns surrounding Shane McClanahan and Drew Rasmussen. The team could decide to use a six man rotation or occasionally skip starts in order to keep those guys healthy for the playoffs. Considering Peralta is a free agent at the end of the season, he would be the most likely target of the trio.

The Royals mounted little opposition here, mustering a double and walk to leadoff the third inning before bunting the runners into a pair of Skubal strikeouts. They eventually got on the board via a RBI double from Nick Loftin, but Skubal allowed just five hard-hit balls on 91 pitches and had an absurd 45 percent whiff rate. We’ve got no real reason to assume he’ll be moved before his next start, which tentatively is set to be against the Orioles on Wednesday. Fantasy managers, obviously, will keep firing up Skubal regardless of what happens.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that the Brewers will get either player — or that either player will be traded at all — but it’s a notable shift from Milwaukee’s usual deadline strategy. “I’ve been on the phone a lot,” Brewers president of baseball told McCalvy. “We’re definitely active.” The Brewers are clearly looking to snag a bye in the National League playoffs. Skubal’s availability seems to come and go as the Tigers win and lose games — it sounds like if a Skubal deal does come it’ll be one that happens on August 3, the actual day of the deadline.

In what very likely could be one of — if not the — final starts as a member of the Tigers, Skubal was brilliant. He allowed five hits that were all singles, and he generated an impressive 19 swings-and-misses over 87 pitches. It lowers his ERA to 2.83 on the season, and improves his K/BB to 98/11. Recent reports have Skubal more likely to be traded than sticking around Detroit past the deadline, but for now, the 29-year-old will get the nod again against the Royals on Friday.