Objectively speaking, the Los Angeles Dodgers possess the best starting rotation in baseball.
One wouldn’t think that the organization would look to upgrade an already big-time roster strength given a more pressing hole in the outfield.
However, with Tarik Skubal presumably available via trade, the back-to-back AL Cy Young Award winner seems like an ideal fit for the Boys in Blue.
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Doug McKain of Dodgers Nation dove full bore into this thought process during his show on Thursday. Skubal might not be a must-get for a team loaded with arms. However, as McKain detailed, Skubal fits the bill because he’s an elite talent.
This front office has shown constantly that the aim is to go collect as much talent as possible. There’s an argument to make that Skubal is the best starting pitcher in the game today — at the very least within the top-three across the sport.
As McKain says, it would only make sense that the Dodgers would pursue Skubal given past pursuits of stars in the forms of Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Blake Snell, and most recently Edwin Diaz.
It’s unclear as to what the Dodgers would have to give up for Skubal in a possible deal. Presumably Detroit would want a combination of MLB ready players to keep the team in contention, and young, controllable assets for the long haul.
The thought of a Skubal-Yoshinobu Yamamoto pairing atop the rotation is something no other team could conceivably match. There’s also the element of Skubal being a free agent at year’s end. Would the Dodgers insist on a contract extension being agreed upon before pulling the trigger on a deal? Or would they be okay having Skubal as a one-year rental/ mercenary?
Plenty of intriguing questions still remain pertaining to this elite player and the back-to-back Champs.
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Photo Credit: Kevin Jiraj-Imagn Images
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