Cup of Coffee Extra: Tarik Skubal traded to the Dodgers

Good morning!

Since I am several hours ahead of most of you I saw this news when I woke up today and I wanted to be the first to tell you: the Dodgers acquired pitcher Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers late last night. In return, L.A. sent outfielder Zyhir Hope and righties River Ryan, and Brady Smith back to Detroit.

This is bad for a bunch of reasons that, actually, have very little to do with the baseball that will take place on the field.

It's bad because, despite the fact that virtually any team in baseball could've put together a package like that – (a) two minor league pitchers, one who is already 27, both of whom have already had Tommy John surgery and have bad-looking stats; and (b) a hitter who, while a top-40 or 50 overall prospect has great power but a questionable hit tool that will be exploited once he's in the majors – it will be treated by most fans and most of the press as if L.A. did something that only it could do. Someone could ask why the Rays or Brewers didn't rent Skubal at that price despite an acute need, but few will, because all baseball news these days is viewed through Rob Manfred's "our game sucks and everything is unfair because the Dodgers have all the money" glasses.

It's also bad because Detroit, despite having the ability and the means to sign Skubal never made an effort to do so. This is a team that not terribly long ago signed the top hitters and pitchers of the era to long-term deals and didn't lose a dime over it, but now that the competitive father owner is dead and the inheriting money son is in charge they act like smol beans who must make due to with bread bag shoes instead of boots. And again, very few people question it because the "only the Dodgers can spend money and acquire good players" narrative is in concrete.

I will grant that, yeah, in the short term, this deal will suck in the eyes of most people because no one wants to see the best team get better and no one besides Dodgers fans wants to see a three-peat champion. But we need to be clear about something: just because we don't like that does not mean that the game is so unfair that we must trash, abandon, or forever alter it. This is not a deal that only the Dodgers could do. This is a deal most teams could do but chose not to, and that's a far more damning comment on Major League Baseball in 2026 than anything the Los Angeles Dodgers are doing.

Have a great day everyone.