Tigers Called Dodgers to Get Tarik Skubal Trade, New MLB Rumors Reveal After Deadline Blockbuster

Before Tarik Skubal was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the final phone call to get a deal done came from the two-time AL Cy Young winner's now-former team.

Per The Athletic's Fabian Ardaya and Katie Woo, Detroit Tigers officials called the Dodgers on Saturday night to inform them they wanted to get the Skubal deal done:

"The Dodgers adopted a more expansive approach this deadline, placing even more value on the opinions of their pro scouts and internal talent evaluators. The vast majority of executives flew to Los Angeles ahead of their all-hands meetings on Friday morning. The group was beginning to wrap up their meeting Saturday evening when the Tigers called, saying they wanted to get the deal done that night."

The report noted Andrew Friedman of the Dodgers and Scott Harris of the Tigers agreed to terms in the middle of Los Angeles' game that night against the Boston Red Sox.

Even though there was much handwringing about the Dodgers adding another superstar to their already-loaded roster, Ardaya and Woo added the Tigers "simply believed" Los Angeles "had the most to offer" and would act aggressively in a way other interested teams like the Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers would not:

"The Tigers spent minimal time negotiating with the Tampa Bay Rays, with their sights seemingly set on that Dodgers' system, according to league sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity for their candor on the negotiations.

"The Milwaukee Brewers, too, have an enviable farm system. But they have historically never been the type of club to act aggressively at the deadline on a rental. So Milwaukee — well-run and rolling this season, with an eye toward October baseball — moves on without adding Skubal in early August."

Detroit received outfielder Zyhir Hope, right-handed pitcher River Ryan and right-handed pitcher Brady Smith back from the Dodgers for Skubal.

The narrative after the Dodgers added another high-profile player was largely centered around whether or not they are "ruining" the sport so much that Friedman and manager Dave Roberts were asked about it on Sunday.

"It just seems like there's always blowback with us," Roberts said. "People are passionate. We feel good about it. There's nothing that we did that no one else couldn't have done. I just love our front office. We have to have the players to go pull something like this off, and we've still got, you know, arguably the top one or two or three farm systems in baseball. So it's a credit to a lot of people in this organization."

Friedman explained he "passionately" disagreed with that narrative and they want to take advantage of how "special" their roster is at this moment.

Roberts also said Skubal was the only player they were really interested in doing anything dramatic to acquire.

The Dodgers were far from the only team that could have tried to make a strong offer for Skubal. Along with the Rays and Brewers, ESPN's Alden Gonzalez cited the Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves as having at least some level of interest in the left-hander.

Teams like the Cubs and Braves would have difficulty putting together an enticing package because their system is a little soft right now, but the Brewers, Rays and Yankees all have at least one tier-one prospect, per B/R's Joel Reuter.

This wasn't a situation like Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker or Edwin Díaz choosing to sign with the Dodgers as free agents. Skubal doesn't have a no-trade clause in his contract, so the 28 other teams aside from the Tigers and Dodgers in theory could have gotten involved.

Instead, none of them wanted to step up with an offer the Tigers seemed to really like.

The Dodgers did and they got a deal done to add Skubal to a rotation that, at full strength, also features Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki.