The Toronto Blue Jays are expected to be one of the teams in the mix for back-to-back American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal. With the Detroit Tigers slipping out of contention, that could signal a blockbuster trade and land Detroit some solid prospects. The Blue Jays have been off to a slow start, but remain in the wild card hunt with the American League being as weak as it is.
Even after suffering an elbow injury and undergoing surgery to remove bone chips, Detroit’s asking price for Skubal is going to be very high. Tristan Cockroft of ESPN put together a mock trade that would send Skubal to Toronto for prospects JoJo Parker and Johnny King.
“Trading a pair of top-100 prospects for a player on an expiring contract might seem foolish, but bear in mind that the Blue Jays are defending American League champions who are surely planning to maximize their championship window,” Cockroft writes. “Their rotation has been obliterated by injuries, and a Skubal/Kevin Gausman/Dylan Cease/Trey Yesavage playoff quartet would be quite formidable.
“For the Tigers, Parker gives them another high-quality infield bat — they can figure out later which of he or Kevin McGonigle stays at shortstop — and King, a big-time power arm.”
Blue Jays Need Pitching Help
A lot of injuries have taken place for the Blue Jays. Cease, Shane Bieber, Jose Berrios, Bowden Francis, Max Scherzer and Cody Ponce are on the IL as of June 9. There are ways the Blue Jays can fix this, and while they do have a few solid starters active, they will likely need to look outside the organization for help.
This is where Skubal comes in. It may take a lot of prospects, but the Tigers were likely never going to re-sign him anyway, and the Blue Jays are a bigger-market team that could potentially keep him around. They spent big on Cease in the offseason, so they have done it before.
But adding another Cy Young to the mix while they wait for the rest of their injured starters to come back, with the exception of Ponce, could be most beneficial for the Blue Jays as they try to salvage a wild card spot and return to the postseason after reaching the World Series in 2025.
Skubal could be the missing piece they need to finally get over the hump and take down the Los Angeles Dodgers this fall.
Blue Jays’ Postseason Path
Even with several months left in the season, the Blue Jays are well behind in the American League East, but the wild card is still very much in play, so if they can grab Skubal at the deadline, they’ll have a better chance at snagging one of the wild card spots and potentially going on another run in October to get back to the World Series.
Skubal has never pitched beyond the AL Division Series, but if Toronto can add him, they’ll have the opportunity to boast a dangerous rotation through the month of October.
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