Trading for Tarik Skubal may mirror a boardwalk game this trade deadline.
“Step right up and try your chances,” as Skubal is being dangled on the open market to the highest bidder and it appears the team everyone excepts to acquire him may indeed complete another blackbuster.
“Tarik Skubal is going to be traded,” ESPN reporter Jeff Passan said Wednesday night.
“While everyone is thinking that the Brewers are going to be in it, the Rays are going to be in it, the Atlanta Braves are going to be in it. They’re all almost resigned to the idea that the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to get Tarik Skubal.”
There are plenty of good teams that would love to acquire Skubal, but this year’s trade deadline poses too many advantages for the Dodgers.
Los Angeles is the best team in baseball in their quest to three-peat and also own the biggest bankroll – both in money and prospect assets they can cash in for the back-to-back AL Cy Young award winner.
The Dodgers have seven prospects rated inside MLB Pipeline’s top 100, and while acquiring Skubal will be expensive, that deep trade capital allows a play for Skubal, a pending free agent.
Josue De Paula is the No. 4 prospect in the sport, per MLB.com, and is currently playing for their Double-A affiliate, posting a .309 average, 15 home runs and 27 stolen bases as a legitimate five-tool prospect.
The Dodgers don’t have an open outfield spot for him yet, as Kyle Tucker, Andy Pages and Teoscar Hernandez man the three spots.
It would be tough for the Brewers or Rays to match the kind of prospect pedigree that the Dodgers have in their excellent farm system.
While the Dodgers don’t have an obvious outfield hole, they do have some uncertainty in the rotation.
Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow sit on the injured list, while two-way star Shohei Ohtani has been taking a break from pitching due to a knee injury.