SUNDAY BASEBALL NOTES - AUGUST 2
FROM THE BILL CHUCK FILES
The season ends on September 27.
There is a Joe DiMaggio hitting streak 56 days of play remaining.
The trade deadline is tomorrow, 6:00 PM ET/3:00 PM PT.
TW3 - THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS
SKUBAL IS A DODGER
Are you surprised?
I don’t want to spend a huge amount of time discussing this because there is a plethora of information already out there, but there are a few key points to this deal that I find are the most interesting.
Skubal is indeed a two- to three-month rental. This means two things: first, there was a limit any team that sought to acquire him would give the Tigers in return. The Tigers got three very good prospects, and this was an equitable deal. Second, the next couple of months give the Dodgers a leg up on wooing Skubal for a longer-term contract. He will see their organization, coaching support, great facilities, and commitment to winning.
The return to Detroit was a great example of how the Dodgers organization works: by making smart trades and drafting well.
Outfielder Zyhir Hope was acquired in a trade from the Cubs for first baseman Michael Busch and pitcher Yency Almonte when the Dodgers were trying to clear space from their 40-man roster.
Right-hander River Ryan came in a trade from San Diego for Matt Beatty.
Right-hander Brady Smith was the Dodgers’ third-round pick in 2023.
Three highly regarded prospects, who had they been in other organizations, may have been at the top of their prospect charts, but the Dodgers are so deep in prospects that there is a likelihood that these three players never would have played for Los Angeles.
The other part of this deal is the money that the Dodgers can afford to pay Skubal for the remainder of this season. The Dodgers will pay Skubal about $9.5 million, the remainder of a $32 million salary.
That seems like cheap money to me after hearing that the White Sox, in acquiring Luis Castillo (5.06 ERA and has allowed 7 homers in his past 17 innings) from the Mariners, are fully absorbing Castillo’s contract, which includes the $7.4 million remaining on his 2026 contract, more than $24 million next season, and potentially $25 million in 2028 if his contract vests. And while some of that money is offset by the money owed to Seranthony Domínguez’s own contract $3.2 million remaining in 2026 salary, $10 million in 2027, and a $2 million buyout of a 2028 mutual option) over the remainder of the two-year deal he signed with the White Sox in January, we are talking about the ineffective Castillo versus Skubal.
A QUICK LOOK AT SKUBAL
The left-handed pitcher from Hayward, California, Tarik Skubal is 7-5 this season with a 2.79 ERA and 116 strikeouts in 96.2 IP. He is 61-42 with a 3.04 ERA over seven seasons, all with Detroit. In two postseasons, Skubal is 2-1 with a 2.04 ERA in six starts. Drafted by the Tigers in the ninth round of the 2018 draft, Skubal made his debut in 2020.
In 2024, he was named an All-Star to go with the season’s AL Cy Young award and pitching Triple Crown. In 2025, Skubal repeated as the AL Cy Young winner to go with another All-Star nod. And he had a 2.21 ERA.
The Dodgers are just the 12th team to have a pair of previous multi-time Cy Young winners on the same team, with Skubal joining two-time recipient Blake Snell.
PUTTING THE HORSE BEFORE THE CART
Teams need only four starters in the playoffs. With Tarik Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, Eric Lauer, Emmet Sheehan, and Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers have a plethora (as in 8) of starting pitching choices.
You can immediately lop off Lauer and Sheehan and put Sasaki in the bullpen, and the Dodgers have five premier starters for October. The acquisition of Skubal takes all the pressure off the Dodgers needing (as opposed to wanting) Ohtani to return to their rotation.
Come the postseason, with all these starters sitting in the bullpen, along with the top of their relief corps, there will be no need for starters to face the opposition for a third time in any game if Dave Roberts chooses.
