Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has weighed in on the potential trade that would even further rock MLB amid discussions of a possible salary cap.
Roberts spoke with Bob Nightengale of USA Today and entertained the idea of the Dodgers acquiring the defending back-to-back American League Cy Young Winner Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers.
Amid complaints that the Dodgers are “ruining baseball” by acquiring what some see as too much top talent, Roberts couldn’t help but laugh at the prospect of Skubal joining the back-to-back World Champions in pursuit of a three-peat.
“They would go ballistic,” Roberts said. “But we would have the prospect capital to do that. We are one of the teams that could do that with the Tigers.”
Who could the Dodgers trade for Tarik Skubal?
Jim Bowden of The Athletic put the Dodgers in the top spot of his list of seven possible landing spots for Skubal, and he also said the Dodgers “deep farm system … would make it easier for them to offer the Tigers a premium prospect package without decimating their minor-league depth.”
Bowden particularly highlighted the Dodgers’ depth in outfield prospects.
“The Tigers could insist on one of their top ones among the group of Zyhir Hope, Josue De Paula, Eduardo Quintero, James Tibbs III and Mike Sirota, and then combine that with one of their major-league starting pitchers in Emmet Sheehan or Justin Wrobleski,” he wrote.
That said, the Dodgers could “balk at offering either Sheehan or Wrobleski.”
“The Tigers could pivot and ask for one of their top starting pitching prospects instead, like River Ryan or Christian Zazueta,” he wrote. “One of those four pitchers with one of those outfielders would be pretty close to what a realistic return would look like, although the Dodgers would probably have to throw in a third player, like right-hander Brady Smith, to close the deal.”
How would a Tarik Skubal trade affect MLB?
The outcry over a potential Skubal trade would almost certainly add fuel to the debate over a possible salary cap in baseball.
Roberts, though, rebutted those arguments.
“My honest opinion is the majority of takes about the Dodgers couldn’t be more lazy, that it’s just about the payroll,” he told Nightengale. “It’s about the draft. It’s about layering on where we pick in the draft annually. The player development. How we acquire international talent. How we perform consistently at the major-league level.
“I actually think it’s a competitive advantage in the sense that people feel that way, and not look at themselves in the mirror and see how they can operate things better. So that’s beneficial for us.”