LOS ANGELES — Shortly before first pitch Saturday night at Double-A Tulsa, Dodgers outfield prospects Zyhir Hope and Kendall George were scratched from the lineup. Nearly 1,500 miles away, eyes began to dart toward the home dugout at Dodger Stadium, where pitcher Emmet Sheehan stood on the top step.
Surely, the Dodgers had to be working on a deal for Tarik Skubal, the prize of the deadline.
And, surely, if the Dodgers managed to put together a package strong enough to land the back-to-back Cy Young Award winner, Sheehan, All-Star Justin Wrobleski or one of the Dodgers’ talented regulars had to be the headliner.
… Only, there were no hugs goodbye in Los Angeles.
Sheehan remained glued to the top step of the dugout throughout Saturday night’s loss to the Red Sox, which turned out to be the Dodgers’ most joyous series defeat of the season. Minutes after the loss, Sheehan still hadn’t heard anything indicating he was gone.
Right before the Dodgers’ clubhouse closed, the news broke. Skubal, the back-to-back Cy Young Award winner, would be joining the back-to-back champs.
And it wouldn’t cost the Dodgers any of their big-league talent.
Hope (but not George) was part of the eventual package of prospects the Dodgers sent to Detroit, along with right-handed pitchers River Ryan and Brady Smith.
Here are four takeaways from the Dodgers’ trade for Skubal:
1. … That’s all it took?
(Photo by Shanna Stafford/Minor League Baseball via Getty Images)
“That’s all?” one Dodgers player asked after hearing the return for Skubal.
He was incredulous, not because he didn’t believe in the prospects going back to Detroit; it’s just … this is Skubal we’re talking about. The guy who had 228 strikeouts two years ago. The guy who had 241 strikeouts last year. The guy who just set a record in salary arbitration. The guy who came back from an elbow procedure in a little over a month, then continued his dominant ways.
And the Dodgers got him without needing to send Sheehan or All-Star Justin Wrobleski. Without needing to send top outfield prospects Josue De Paula, Mike Sirota or Eduardo Quintero.
Without needing Skubal at all.
Where were the other top contenders? The Brewers were swept by the Dodgers in last year’s NLCS and had maybe the only group of prospects that could have challenged the Dodgers’ best offer. The Braves and Cubs both needed an ace far more than the Dodgers. The Rays have a clear path toward winning the American League and a load of prospects who could have enticed the Tigers.
None of them could offer more than Hope, Ryan and Smith?
It’s a decision those clubs may come to regret, as the favorites to win a third straight World Series title just saw their chances get even better.
2. This Could Be The Best Rotation Ever
The Dodgers have the most talented lineup in the game, a group that has amassed the highest OPS in the sport even with many of their top contributors yet to perform to their capabilities.
And now, Skubal leads one of the most ridiculous collections of pitching talent ever assembled.
That group includes the reigning World Series MVP, Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Dodgers also have another two-time Cy Young Award winner, Blake Snell, nearing his return from injury. They have a former All-Star in Tyler Glasnow about to begin a rehab assignment. They have another current All-Star in the rotation in Justin Wrobleski, plus more talented depth arms in Sheehan and Roki Sasaki. And, of course, they have a four-time MVP in Shohei Ohtani, who isn’t pitching now due to a sore knee but is expected back on the mound before season’s end.
For all of these reasons, the Dodgers’ front office claimed it had “no acute need” this deadline. It felt good about the talent in place and the way it meshed together. This was the least desperate president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said that he felt at the deadline.
And yet…these are the Dodgers. They shared similar sentiments this winter, too, before turning around and signing the best player (Kyle Tucker) and closer (Edwin Díaz) on the market.
“That said,” Friedman told me earlier this week, giving himself an out, “it’s in our nature to explore anything and everything.”
They are always lurking, both in free agency and at the deadline.
They got Tucker and Dîaz using their financial capital. They got Skubal with their prospect capital. And now, assuming they get healthy, they can bump all of their depth arms into the bullpen in October.
Good luck stopping them.
3. What’s Next For The Tigers?
(Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)
Hope and Ryan may soon be big-league ready, but the former is at Double-A, and the latter is on the injured list for the second time this year with a hamstring injury after missing all of last season due to Tommy John recovery. This was a move for 2027 and beyond.
So what does that mean for 2026?
The Tigers are only 2.5 games out of a wild-card spot, but they also have more rentals who could bring back a meaningful return in Casey Mize and Gleyber Torres. Will Detroit deal them, too? Or see what happens with a rotation that still includes talented arms in Mize, Framber Valdez, Troy Melton, Keider Montero and, soon, Jackson Jobe?
It’ll be interesting to see who stays and who goes over the next two days in Detroit.
4. Dodger Disdain Grows
(Photo by Tony Macon/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Surely, MLB will use this deal as another example of the sport’s imbalance as labor discussions continue and a lockout looms.
Yes, the payroll disparity is an issue. And, yes, the Dodgers’ financials give them an obvious advantage.
But that’s not what this is about, despite the public outcry to come.
It was the Dodgers’ savvy and forethought that set this up. They got Ryan in exchange for Matt Beaty, their 2015 12th-round pick who hasn’t played in the big leagues since 2023. They got Hope for Michael Busch, their first-round pick in 2019, a big-league regular they helped develop.
In addition to spending, this is what they do.
They trade Gavin Lux for Mike Sirota before the 2025 season and Dustin May for James Tibbs III and Zach Ehrhard at last year’s deadline, acquiring pieces who now make up one of the deepest groups of outfield prospects ever assembled — a group that should make the loss of Hope minimal.
The remainder of Skubal’s pro-rated salary should have made him attainable to any contender that wanted him. But there won’t be a Brewers rotation featuring Skubal, Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison, or a Skubal-Chris Sale duo in Atlanta, or a Skubal-Drew Rasmussen-Shane McClanahan trio in Tampa Bay.
And those teams, despite the cries for change that are sure to get even louder, have only themselves — and their restraint — to blame.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.
