Heyman: Tarik Skubal trade talks to ‘heat up’

Skubal will make his debut with Los Angeles against one of the teams that will be competing with the Dodgers for the National League pennant. Fantasy managers were going to have the 29-year-old ace in their lineup, anyway, but it’s nice that they won’t have to wait too long to see him back on the bump.

The blockbuster deal which was reported late Saturday evening is now official. The two-time reigning American League Cy Young award winner joins an already star-studded Dodgers’ rotation as they look to make history by winning their third consecutive World Series title. It remains to be seen whether the Dodgers will be able to lock up the impending free agent long-term, but it would now be a catastrophic failure on their end if they don’t wind up winning another title. Skubal’s already sky-high fantasy value improves with the move to Los Angeles as he’s much more likely to rack up victories than he had been with the Tigers’ faulty bullpen working behind him.

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.

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.

Skubal is sitting one strikeout shy of 1,000 for his career and told reporters that he wants to accomplish the feat in front of the Detroit fans. This could wind up being his final start in a Tigers uniform with the club continuing to fade from playoff contention and trade rumors swirling. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported earlier on Tuesday that the belief around the league is that Detroit wants to trade Skubal, but they’re going to be seeking a substantial return. The 29-year-old fantasy ace is the biggest potential domino to watch ahead of next week’s trade deadline.

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.