Will the Tigers Trade Tarik Skubal? Rays Emerge as Surprising Suitor Before Deadline
You do not usually think of the Tampa Bay Rays as buyers for the biggest available arm on the market. This year is different.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that the Rays have shown interest in trading for Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal ahead of the August 3 deadline. Tampa Bay has also been aggressive on Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte. That is not a payroll dumping team. That is a first-place team acting like one.
The Rays sit at 56-38 through the All-Star break, three games up on the AL East. For the first time in what feels like a decade, they have a real path to a division title with legitimate rotation depth already in place. Adding a two-time reigning AL Cy Young winner on top of that is the kind of swing that changes the shape of the American League playoff picture.
Skubal is exactly what he looks like on the mound. He is a top-three starter on the planet right now. He is 28 years old. He throws upper-90s from the left side. He controls counts, misses bats, and pitches deep into games. In a short series, he is the guy who ends careers. Every contender should have him on their board.
The catch is the price and the fit. Skubal is a free agent after this season. Any team acquiring him is renting an ace for two months and a playoff run. The Rays are almost certain to not have the financial means to extend him past the season regardless of what happens. Small-market discipline is small-market discipline.
Which is why this is such a Rays move. Tampa Bay does not need Skubal for five years. It needs him for October. If they get him, they run him out twice in any short series and they suddenly have a legitimate shot at their first-ever World Series title.
The Rays have the prospect capital to do this. Their farm system is one of the best in baseball. If they want to make Detroit an offer that the Tigers cannot refuse, they can package multiple top prospects and force president Scott Harris to seriously consider selling. Detroit’s front office has held the line on Skubal so far, but the price they need to say no is a lot higher than the price for a normal deadline rental.
Complicating this: the Tigers are not dead. Detroit has closed to within 3.5 games of the final AL Wild Card spot on the back of a hot pre-break run. If they keep winning, Skubal might not be moved at all. That is the leverage every trade partner is going to be up against. Detroit’s front office is not just going to give him away because someone asks nicely.
There are other Skubal suitors circling. The Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies and Braves have all been linked in various reports. Every contender that needs starting pitching is going to check in on him. The Rays getting into the conversation this seriously tells you they are treating this as a real opportunity, not a wish.
MLB Insider Bob Nightengale is right to flag this. The Rays historically hold. They historically develop. They historically deal veterans. Turning around and dropping a package to rent an ace is the kind of move you see once or twice a decade in Tampa Bay.
Do not count on it happening. But do not dismiss it either. The AL East is in play. The Rays know it. And Tarik Skubal in Tampa Bay for a two-month October push would be one of the most fun deadline stories in years.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
