LOS ANGELES -- Talks between the
Detroit Tigers and
Los Angeles Dodgers around
Tarik Skubal began to pick up Friday and turned increasingly more aggressive by Saturday afternoon. Moments before the Dodgers' 6:10 p.m. PT first pitch, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman walked into manager Dave Roberts' office and told him the deal, barring a medical hiccup, was essentially done.
News -- that the
Dodgers were acquiring Skubal for a three-prospect package consisting of outfielder Zhyir Hope, and starting pitchers River Ryan and Brady Smith -- broke later that night. It didn't take long for the outrage to circulate.
Rival scouts, executives and players privately panned the Tigers' return, wondering why it
didn't take more to land Skubal, and why teams like the
Milwaukee Brewers and
Tampa Bay Rays didn't step up to prevent him from going to the Dodgers. Fans took to social media to lament the Dodgers landing another superstar, tying their vast resources to
Major League Baseball's push for a salary cap. The Dodgers were once again at the center of outrage about the sport's economics. It's a position they've grown accustomed to.
"It just seems like there's always blowback with us," Roberts said. "People are passionate. We feel good about it. There's nothing that we did that no one else couldn't have done. I just love our front office. We have to have the players to go pull something like this off, and we've still got, you know, arguably the top one or two or three farm systems in baseball. So it's a credit to a lot of people in this organization."
Roberts spoke with Skubal over the phone late Saturday night, and Skubal joined his new Dodgers teammates in the dugout for Sunday's series finale against the
Boston Red Sox.
Skubal, 29, will make his Dodgers debut against the
Chicago Cubs from Wrigley Field on Tuesday. He will initially take the rotation spot of
Eric Lauer, who is moving to the bullpen but is widely expected to be traded before Monday's 3 p.m. PT trade deadline. The Dodgers went into Sunday tied with the Brewers for the best rotation ERA in the major leagues -- with
Blake Snell expected back in a couple of weeks,
Tyler Glasnow starting a rehab assignment, and
Shohei Ohtani, bothered by soreness in his left knee, still expected to pitch eventually.
A team with one of the best rotations in history has added one of the best pitchers in the world. A roster with no discernable weakness landed the best player available. The narrative that the Dodgers are ruining baseball has only exacerbated because of it.
"Passionately disagree," Friedman said when asked his opinion on the matter.
Friedman went on to say what he usually does in that scenario -- that the franchise is rewarding its passionate fans, that this trade is a testament of all the departments that have made the Dodgers an enviable franchise, and that this is a rare opportunity they want to capitalize on.
"It's special," Friedman said, "and we're not going to be flippant about this moment in time and how special this group, this era can be in the history of this incredibly storied organization. We're going to do everything we can to keep doing what we can to win the last game of the year."
A late bloomer who lasted until the ninth round of the 2018 draft, Skubal began to emerge as one of the game's most talented pitchers in 2022 and 2023, and he took it to another level thereafter. From 2024 to 2025, Skubal went 31-10 with a 2.30 ERA and a whopping 469 strikeouts in 387⅓ innings. His 12.6 FanGraphs wins above replacement led all major league pitchers.
In 16 starts this year, Skubal boasts a 2.79 ERA while striking out 116 batters and issuing 14 walks in 96⅔ innings. The only thing that could stop him were bone chips that began to irritate his left elbow in late April. Skubal underwent a less-invasive, revolutionary NanoScope procedure and returned in about six weeks. His ERA in July was 2.03.
Skubal, Friedman said, was the one player the Dodgers were chasing at this year's deadline.
In his eyes, he was the only one who could make a meaningful difference to his team's championship odds.
"I don't think we went into this thing saying this is an acute need," Friedman said of the starting rotation. "But as we've talked about a lot, whenever there's a star-level player that is available that can really shift championship odds, those are the moments that we'll be more aggressive. We've tried other instances and not lined up and others where we have. But I think being by the backboard and doing everything we can to put ourselves in the best position, with the core we have right now, with the way they go about their preparation to do everything they can to win a championship -- when we can add to that, and enhance our chances, we're gonna be aggressive to do so."
In acquiring Hope, the Dodgers were able to deal from a position of great strength in their farm system -- high-ceiling outfield prospects. Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris asked about Josue DePaula, a consensus top-25 prospect, but was rebuffed, according to sources. Eventually he zeroed in on Hope, a toolsy, 21-year-old left-handed hitter who's slashing .293/.369/.530 with 23 home runs and 18 stolen bases in Double-A. Ryan, 28, satisfied the need for a controllable, projectable starter who's close to major league ready.
Said Friedman: "We had a lot of guys that they liked."
The Dodgers were ultimately able to land Skubal while maintaining a plethora of talented outfield prospects (DePaula, Mike Sirota and Eduardo Quintero most notably) and all of their young major league starters (
Emmet Sheehan,
Justin Wrobleski and
Roki Sasaki).
But all that really matters is October.
The Dodgers were off when Skubal made his two starts in the American League Division Series last year, and Friedman made it a point to watch.
"I was in awe watching the energy, the dominance he exhibited there," Friedman said. "I can't wait to see it in Dodger blue."
