The Los Angeles Dodgers made a blockbuster deal to acquire Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers on Saturday night.
Los Angeles dealt prospects OF Zyhir Hope, RHP River Ryan, and RHP Brady Smith for Skubal, which feels like a light return. Yet, MLB insider Jon Heyman spoke to some execs around baseball, and some think highly of Hope.
“Baseball people do like OF Zyhir Hope who’s seen as a future multiple MLB All-Star, but some say the package is light for Skubal “a top two player in baseball.” One rival says if that’s the deal, call around and ask anyone to beat it. ‘That’s a deal you can do Monday morning,’” Heyman wrote on X.
Hope is 21 years old and was selected in the 11th round of the 2023 MLB Draft by the Chicago Cubs, but has since become a top prospect for the Dodgers. He’s hitting .293 with 23 home runs and 87 RBIs, as he has plenty of power, which the Tigers are banking on translating to the MLB.
However, even if Hope does turn into a perennial All-Star, Los Angeles shouldn’t have much care as the Dodgers were able to land Skubal, who is one of the top pitchers in all of baseball.
Skubal is the reigning back-to-back AL Cy Young Award winner and will now look to help the Dodgers three-peat.
Skubal Emotional After Trade to Dodgers
Following the deal being announced Saturday, Skubal met with the media after the Tigers’ game against the Athletics and was emotional.
Skubal had spent his entire career in Detroit and admitted it was tough to hear the news that he’s been traded.
“It’s very tough. Ever since that ’24 Game 5 (of the ALDS), the failure that I experienced on, I’ve used that as fuel to try and bring a World Series to the city of Detroit,” Skubal said. “That whole off-season, I’ve never been more motivated, and you go back and we lose Game 5 again. That failure sparked some more motivation to just dig deeper and see how good you can truly be. The goal was always to win a World Series for the city, for the organization that actually took a chance on me.”
Skubal, however, admitted he was excited to join the Dodgers.
“I’m excited to be a Dodger,” Skubal said. “I’m excited to get down there and meet all those guys, chase three championships in a row. It’s hard to do, so I’m excited to be a part of that. But it’s a lot of different emotions. Definitely a roller-coaster.”
The Dodgers are now World Series favorites at +150.
LA Wanted to be Aggressive
Although the Dodgers have won back-to-back World Series, the team wanted to be aggressive this deadline.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said earlier this week that Los Angeles has the assets to make a big move.
“There just aren’t that many star-level players in the game, and any time one is available, we’re always going to participate in those conversations,” Friedman said. “We’ve traded a lot of really talented young players, but we’re able to be in those conversations because of the incredible work by our scouts, our front office and our player development group that has our farm system in such a strong spot to be able to talk to any team basically about any player.”
Now, the team was able to make the big move by acquiring Skubal.
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