Reigning champion Dodgers dont have to trade for Tarik Skubal or anyone else
In any other season, I would say go after him.Pay the ransom.Shake up baseball one more time by landing Tarik Skubal before the Aug.
3 trade deadline.A legitimate shot at winning a World Series shouldn’t be taken for granted.A legitimate shot at winning a third consecutive World Series really shouldn’t be taken for granted.Any time a championship contender can acquire a pitcher of Skubal’s caliber, it should.
It would be negligent not to.Only in the case of these Dodgers, they’re not typical contenders.They’re not typical two-time defending champions, if such a thing exists.Which is why the team in a better position than any other in baseball to strike a deal for Skubal shouldn’t.They can win without him. By October, their rotation will consist of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow.Without Skubal, they would still have the best starting rotation in baseball.Even if Skubal is traded to another contender, they would still have an edge in pitching over whichever team acquires the left-hander.This isn’t a knock on Skubal, a two-time Cy Young Award winner with the Tigers.Skubal will be paid hundreds of millions of dollars this winter – or whenever the sport’s anticipated lockout comes to an end – and rightfully so.But his status as an impending free agent complicates matters.With Skubal months from potentially signing a record-breaking contract, what could the Dodgers reasonably ask of him if they find themselves in a pinch?Could they move him into the bullpen for a game or two, as they did last October with Yamamoto, Snell and Glasnow? Could they send him to the mound on three-days rest, as they did with Ohtani in Game 7 of the World Series?The situation wouldn’t be fair to Skubal, who has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create generational wealth for his family.The situation would be uncomfortable for the Dodgers, who have become a destination franchise not only because of how much they pay their players but a...