Earlier this season, the Detroit Tigers made the difficult decision to part ways with ace pitcher Tarik Skubal, sending him to the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers in return for a package that included a trio of prospects.
While the Tigers missed the playoffs, the Dodgers once again advanced to the National League Championship Series, but their dreams of a three-peat were broken by the upstart Milwaukee Brewers.
In a stunning result, the Brewers swept Tarik Skubal and the Dodgers in four games, advancing to the World Series for the first time since 1982.
Former Detroit Tigers Ace Tarik Skubal And The Los Angeles Dodgers Were Swept In The NLCS
The run for Skubal and the Dodgers this season ended in extreme disappointment, as the New York Yankees remain the most recent club to capture three straight World Series wins.
It was Skubal who started the first game of the NLCS against the Brewers; while he delivered an acceptable performance, he didn’t get much run support. He allowed just two earned runs on five hits and two walks with seven strikeouts over 5.0 innings of work in what was a 2-1 loss.
Now, the Dodgers are faced with an uncertain future with regard to Skubal, who can become an unrestricted free agent and is expected to command a historic contract negotiated by power agent Scott Boras potentially worth upward of $400 million.
Whether or not the Dodgers are able to keep Skubal remains to be seen.
The Tigers Traded Tarik Skubal To The Dodgers
In return for Skubal, the Tigers received outfielder Zyhir Hope and right-handers River Ryan and Brady Smith.
“We came into this with a firm idea of the type of deal that we wanted to ultimately land,” said Tigers executive Scott Harris after the trade. “And we had a deep understanding of what every organization had to offer.
“I think there is a unique dynamic with a player like Tarik Skubal. Markets at the deadline for the top players are just different than the rest of the market. So, I understand the intuition that, ‘Hey, you’re supposed to wait until the very last second on a deal and then pull a trigger at the very last second to maximize a return.’ That’s not how markets for the top players work.”
Dodgers Gamble On Ex-Tigers Pitcher Tarik Skubal Backfires