Dodgers break baseball again, acquire two time CYA Skubal

Phil Gurnee ♦ August 2, 2026 ♦ Leave a comment

Shocking no one, the Dodgers acquired two time CYA winner Tarik Skubal as they do everything they can do to help themselves three-peat. The shocking part was that the price was what it was and that the Brewers didn’t do everything in their power to beat this deal. As rumored, Zyhir Hope was part of the deal, along with oft injured River Ryan, and low level high helium prospect Brady Smith.

Yesterday I had suggested that Zyhir Hope would be part of the package if they successfully bid for Skubal and he was. Instead of Sheehan or Wrobleski the Tigers opted for River Ryan. Ryan has the stuff to be a top prospect, the only thing holding him back has been his health. He rarely pitches so it is a bit of a shocker that the Tigers would ask for him. They might get a great rotation piece but the odds are probably higher he never throws 100 innings for them. Brady Smith could be something, and certainly something you want in this type of deal. Given that two of the three players were Ryan/Smith, I would have expected a fourth name. Even for a pending free agent, given you are acquiring the best pitcher in the AL, maybe in baseball, the price seems cheap to me.

What now? The Dodger rotation is crazy stacked as they add Skubal via trade, Snell is coming back this week, and Glasnow is ramping up his rehab. Even with Ohtani sidelined the rotation headed into next week will have Wrobleski/Skubal/Sasaki/Yamamoto/Sheehan/Lauer. That doesn’t include Snell who will probably pitch next week. Eventually you will add Glasnow, and possibly Ohtani. Which means someone is still probably going to get traded. Given everything Lauer has done since the Dodgers acquired him it would suck for him to be traded but hard to see how he fits here. Hell, Sheehan doesn’t even fit here. Glasgow doesn’t even fit here. You would love the Postseason Rotation to be some combo of Skubal/Yamamoto/Snell/Ohtani wouldn’t you? Leaving Sasaki/Wrobleski/Glasnow/Sheehan in the postseason bullpen. Kind of like last postseason. Yet, the way Sasaki is progressing, do you really not want him part of your postseason rotation? Basically the Dodgers have four pitchers who won’t start a Dodger postseason game that are probably better then 75% of the teams rotation headed into the postseason. It is no wonder that people claim the Dodgers have broken baseball.

This is why you can trade River Ryan, he simply doesn’t have a spot even if he was healthy. Even if Skubal leaves via free agency and that isn’t a given since he has said his preference is to be a Dodger, the 2027 rotation is how we started the 2026 season. Without Skubal the 2027 rotation still lines up with Yamamoto/Snell/Ohtani/Glasnow/Wrobleski/Sheehan but now they are woefully short of pitching prospects outside of Zazueta/Root in the high minors. Well, I guess they still have Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone who have both missed all of 2026. Miller was once the best of the pitching prospects and had a fantastic debut season but has been shite since. Stone hasn’t pitched for two years now. Maybe they do keep Lauer?

At this point last week it looked like they would need to add a catcher but Will Smith has started baseball activities and should be ready to play by the end of August. Doubt they are trading anyone for 30 days of a back up catcher who would only marginally be better than the current back up catcher. They might make a deal but it will be a very small deal instead of trying to snag a high end back up catcher. 1st base no, 2nd base – Maybe, SS – No, 3rd base – No, CF – no, RF – No, LF – Maybe, Rotation – No more, Bullpen – Maybe

Addressing the maybe’s. 2nd base is Edman, Rojas, and Hernandez. You could upgrade here but I don’t think they well since they still have Freeman/Kim in AAA. Not ideal but given the talent around them, the group should be adequate. LF is Teo/Call/Hernandez which is why Call is expendable at this point. This is certainly a place they could upgrade but by doing so they either have to trade Teo or put a very popular player on the bench. Not sure they are ready to do that this deadline. I think they pass on both 2nd and LF. That leaves the bullpen and yes it certainly could use some help but given that we just listed nine pitchers as starters and you can only use at most six, that leaves some exciting arms for the bullpen. Plus they did acquire Seth Halvorsen several weeks back who has basically been unhittable since joining the Dodger AAA outlet. They also just got back Diaz. Before that, they got back Phillips. I don’t know, maybe one more bullpen arm. Maybe. Once again, maybe they don’t trade Lauer and have him become the Ryan Yarbrough of the bullpen.

Thus my expectations for the rest of the trading deadline is that one or two of the non DePaula/Quintero/Sirota/Davalan outfield prospects will get traded for young pitchers and young catchers. I would hope that Ward is finally moved, kind of hoping they trade Alex Call, and Kendall George was removed today from his AA lineup. He wasn’t part of the Skubal trade, but he very well may be part of another deal.

Any-ho, once again the Dodgers have broken baseball, and have to be the odds on favorite to win their third straight championship. It might have been quite the gauntlet if they had to go through Miz/Skubal and I’d have loved to see it, but now the Brewers can clutch their prospects and give it a good go as they watch Skubal cut through their lineup as Miz cuts through his lineups.