The Dodgers Got Tarik Skubal Because Other Teams Didn’t Want Him

LOS ANGELES, CA - On August 1, 2026, the two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers drew the ire of MLB fans when they traded for Tarik Skubal, the two-time Cy Young-winning ace of the Tigers. Skubal joins a pitching staff featuring two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani, World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, fellow two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell, veteran Tyler Glasnow, and All-Star Justin Wrobleski, one of the sport’s better young pitchers. In addition to their stacked starting pitching staff, the Dodgers bullpen features two All-Star closers in Tanner Scott and Edwin Diaz.

The Dodgers’ embarrassment of riches goes beyond the pitching staff. Their hitting lineup features Ohtani, two former MVPs in Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, super utility player Tommy Edman, All-Star third baseman Max Muncy, and rising star Andy Pages. That’s not including All-Star Kyle Tucker, who has been a massive disappointment in the City of Angels, reliable veteran Teoscar Hernandez, and a World Series hero in catcher Will Smith. Their minor league farm system, headlined by elite outfield prospects Josue De Paula and Mike Sirota, is one of the best in baseball.

When the current CBA expires on December 1, the MLB is all but certain to go into a lockout, which will revolve around a potential salary cap, something the owners want but the fans do not. The lack of a salary cap has allowed the Dodgers to assemble the All-Star roster they currently possess, which is why the Skubal trade has drawn so much ire. However, instead of viewing the trade as the Dodgers continuing to ruin baseball, let’s take a different angle: the Dodgers got Skubal because nobody else seemed to want him.

Why Did The Dodgers Give Up So Little For Skubal?

Skubal, a rumored trade candidate due to his upcoming free agency, was expected to command a haul for the Tigers despite being a likely half-season rental player. Instead, they got what is considered to be an underwhelming package. The Dodgers did not have to give up De Paula, Sirota, Wrobleski, or bright young arm Emmet Sheehan. They did not have to give up one of their top four prospects. The Dodgers got Skubal in exchange for outfielder Zyhir Hope and right-handed pitching prospects River Ryan and Brady Smith. Hope is a Top 100 prospect in all of MLB, but he was the Dodgers’ fourth-best outfield prospect and fifth-best prospect overall. Ryan is also a Top 100 prospect and has even had a cup of coffee in the major leagues, but he is 28 years old and has struggled with injuries. Smith, meanwhile, is considered a lottery ticket, posting a 4.72 ERA across two levels of A-ball. When you combine Skubal’s status as an elite player with the light return, this is a bad look for the Tigers front office.

While the diminished return for Skubal might be because he is seen as a rental, other superstars have gotten moved for much larger hauls in recent years. Although he is a position player, Juan Soto is a good example. The Padres sent six prospects to the Nationals for Soto in 2022, including pitcher MacKenzie Gore, outfielder James Wood, and shortstop CJ Abrams. After the 2023 season, the Padres flipped him to the Yankees for five prospects, including pitcher Michael King. In total, Soto was traded for a staggering 11 prospects across two trades.

There have been other notable trade deadline deals for rental players. One notable occurrence was the Cubs trading for Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman at the 2016 trade deadline. Like Skubal, Chapman was a half-season rental, and to acquire him, the Cubs surrendered four prospects, including their top prospect, future All-Star Gleyber Torres. Coincidentally, the Dodgers and Tigers themselves were involved in trades for elite half-season rental players. At the 2018 trade deadline, the Dodgers gave up five prospects for Orioles third baseman Manny Machado. At the 2015 trade deadline, the Tigers sent David Price to the Blue Jays for three prospects, including future All-Star Matthew Boyd. In all three cases, the teams trading for the superstar only had them for half a season. After helping the Blue Jays advance to the NLCS, Price signed with the Red Sox the following offseason. Chapman, meanwhile, returned to the Yankees after winning a World Series with the Cubs. Finally, after advancing to the World Series with the Dodgers, Machado signed a $300 million contract with the Padres.

Yes, Skubal is likely to be a rental. He is a Scott Boras client, which means that he is all but guaranteed to enter free agency after the season’s end. However, that is not a justifiable explanation to get a light return for an elite player. The only plausible scenario is that no other team wanted Skubal, and as a result, the Tigers were forced to settle for an offer that was far from what they expected to receive.

The Biggest Loser: The Brewers

There were a lot of losers in the Skubal trade, but one stands out in particular: the Brewers, another prominent team in the mix for Skubal’s services. Despite a low payroll and lack of superstar power outside of Jacob Misiorowski, the Brewers, like the Dodgers, also have a loaded farm system and could have afforded to sacrifice a few lower-end prospects to land Skubal, even if it was only for half a season.

The Brewers have been stuck in MLB purgatory. Despite fielding strong teams, they have been stuck in good-but-not-good-enough territory. They are good enough to win the NL Central, post one of the NL’s best records, and maybe win a playoff series. They are not good enough to compete with the likes of the Dodgers and Braves, both of whom also field strong teams but have more resources to build stronger championship-caliber teams.

If the Brewers had gotten Skubal, it would have changed the NL playoff picture in Milwaukee’s favor. On top of their prolific offense, they would have fielded a pitching trio of Skubal, Misorowski, and rising star lefty Kyle Harrison. Would they have gotten past the Dodgers or Braves? Probably not, but it would have been close.

The reason why Skubal is not a Brewer was because, unlike the Dodgers, they are not an aggressive organization. Just as the Dodgers have a logjam of outfield prospects, the Brewers have a logjam of infield prospects, and both organizations have elite pitching labs. While the Brewers likely would not have given up top prospect Jesus Made, an equivalent trade package to the one the Tigers received would have likely consisted of three of the following players: infielder Luis Pena, utility player Jett Williams, third baseman Andrew Fischer, and pitchers Logan Henderson, Brandon Sproat, or Bishop Letson. As mentioned earlier, the Brewers could have had Skubal and kept their farm system intact. Instead, their passiveness proved why they continue to be the Minnesota Vikings of baseball: a great regular season team that will not show up when it matters most because the front office cares more about being good than being great.

Don’t Hate The Dodgers, Hate Your Team’s Front Office

Ever since the Dodgers acquired Betts in the 2019-20 offseason, the team has attracted a lot of ire due to their extravagant free agent spending and contract deferrals. In March 2022, they signed Freeman to a $162 million contract. In December 2023, they traded for Glasnow, signed Ohtani to a $700 million contract with all but $20 million deferred, and signed Yamamoto to a $325 million contract. At the 2024 trade deadline, they acquired Edman. The following offseason, they signed Scott and Snell. After Scott struggled in the closer role throughout the 2025 season, they signed Diaz. Following their 2025 World Series win, the Dodgers addressed outfield concerns by signing Tucker to a $240 million contract. Now, they have added Skubal. Fans will look at this list and use it as evidence that the Dodgers are ruining the sport. However, there is an argument to be made that the MLB has a general front office problem, not a Dodgers problem.

The Dodgers acquired Betts because the Red Sox decided that he was too expensive to retain. The Braves chose not to give Freeman the six-year contract he wanted. The Angels decided that spending real money to build a contending team around Ohtani was not worth it. Like the Tigers with Skubal, the Cardinals refused to pay Edman and chose to accept a minimal return for him. Multiple teams decided against retaining Glasnow, Snell, Scott, and Tucker. The Mets decided that Diaz was too expensive, and multiple teams were hesitant to give Yamamoto, one of the better international pitching prospects of the last decade, a large contract. None of that sounds like the Dodgers are ruining baseball. Rather, it sounds like front offices do not want to pay their star players.

Yes, the Dodgers are operating at a clear financial advantage thanks to their billionaire owner Mark Walter and their Spectrum SportsNet TV deal. This advantage draws the ire of MLB fans, especially fans of small-market teams, because of the Dodgers’ margin for error. For example, the Tucker contract has aged poorly, as he has been one of the MLB’s worst hitters during his first year with the team. However, because the Dodgers have so much money, it is a rounding error for them and does not affect their ability to field a competitive roster. If a small-market team signed that contract, it would anchor them for the next decade and hinder their ability to build a contending team. There is a competitive imbalance problem that needs to be addressed, and a salary cap and floor are necessary to even out the playing field. However, this solution is not going to fix front offices’ unwillingness to pay star players. Yes, the Dodgers acquiring every star player is a problem, but it is a problem that is partially caused by other front offices, not the Dodgers’ bottomless pit of money. If other teams paid their players, the Dodgers or other cash-rich teams would not hog the best players.

Many fans understandably hate the Dodgers due to their recent success, and the Skubal trade is only amplifying that hatred. However, instead of stating that the Dodgers are ruining baseball, fans should take a look at their own front offices. Aggressiveness wins championships, and the Dodgers are the most aggressive team in baseball right now. The Dodgers are not good because they are playing MLB The Show franchise mode with the budget turned off. They are good because they are the smartest run organization in all of sports, and they take advantage of other teams’ mistakes.

The Dodgers getting Skubal is an embarrassment to MLB, because it shows how passive other front offices are. Yes, fans of other teams will say that their team could not have afforded to re-sign Skubal if they had traded for him. That might be true, but given the minimal package the Dodgers gave up for him, there is no reason that a contending team with a loaded farm system, like the Brewers or Rays, could not have sacrificed a few prospects to get Skubal. The excuse of being a cash-strapped franchise only goes so far. Yes, there is a competitive imbalance in baseball, but the owners have contributed to it. They have continuously vouched for a salary cap and floor, but are unwilling to pounce on the opportunity to acquire a superstar for pennies on the dollar. In other words, they cannot have their cake and eat it too. Enjoy the rest of the season, because there is a good chance we will not have baseball in 2027.

Serafino Diaz is a writer at Chaotically Intolerant, Phoenix's finest Vikings, Bucks, and Cubs fan, traveling everywhere I can.