Who needs Skubal the most? Let's rank the trade suitors
Here's what's trending across the USA right now:
Who needs Skubal the most? Let's rank the trade suitors 4:31 AM UTC Thomas Harrigan
Adding to this, The chances of a Tarik Skubal trade have grown stronger after the Tigers lost Wednesday for the fourth time in five games, squandering a 7-0 lead against the Orioles in the process and falling to 51-58 on the year.
Meanwhile, The Dodgers, Yankees, Braves, Brewers, Rays, Cubs and Phillies have all been linked to Skubal in recent days . While all of these clubs may want Skubal, some need him more than others. But who needs him the most?
Notably, It’s not just a matter of looking at each club’s rotation needs and making a decision based on that. Skubal is a pending free agent, and the Tigers are expected to set a lofty asking price for him, so any team pursuing him must be confident that he's going to put it over the top. Otherwise, it's probably not worth making the move.
As per the latest buzz, We took a look at each team's rotation, playoff positioning and pressure to win now and ranked them accordingly.
In further updates, In a vacuum, the Dodgers have more rotation questions than some of the other teams on this list, considering they don’t know when Shohei Ohtani is going to pitch again and can’t be sure what versions of Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow they’ll be getting when those two return from the IL.
On top of that, But come on. The Dodgers have won two straight World Series titles and will be the favorites to win a third even if they do nothing at the Trade Deadline. In terms of who really needs Skubal the most among these seven teams, the Dodgers are clearly No. 7.
The Phillies don’t have a glaring need in their rotation, but there may not be many ceiling-raisers out there at Philadelphia’s other positions of need. And for a club with an aging core that hasn’t been able to get over the hump, the idea of going into the playoffs with a rotation of Skubal, Cristopher Sánchez, Zack Wheeler and Jesús Luzardo is hard to dismiss. At the same time, it's worth asking whether the Phillies are actually good enough to make a deep run in the first place. They’ve had an up-and-down season, starting off 9-19 before closing out the first half on a 45-24 run under interim manager Don Mattingly, only to go 3-9 over their first 12 games coming out of the All-Star break.
Source: MLB.com