The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 MLB Trade Deadline.
Trade details: Los Angeles Dodgers acquire left-hander Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers for outfielder Zyhir Hope, right-hander River Ryan and right-hander Brady Smith
It’s a disappointing end to the Tarik Skubal era in Detroit, one that began with the Tigers drafting him in the ninth round out of the University of Seattle when he was coming back from Tommy John surgery and culminated in two Cy Young Awards and two playoff runs. I don’t love the decision to trade Skubal when the Tigers entered Saturday night only three games back in the loss column from the last wild-card spot. I am also surprised by the return for Detroit, which might turn out to be good enough to make up for punting on the 2026 season.
This iteration of Skubal may not be the one we saw in the previous two years, although he is still one of the best pitchers in baseball and will help the Dodgers in the only month that counts, October. Los Angeles is going to walk backwards blindfolded into the playoffs. They don’t need Skubal for the regular season; they don’t exactly need him for October, either, but they have so much prospect depth that they would be remiss if they didn’t use it to go do something.
Skubal’s velocity is down about a mile per hour from last year, and as a result, hitters are handling the fastball a little more often and doing more damage when they do connect. It’s a small increase, but hitters are pulling the ball off Skubal more than they did in either of his Cy Young seasons. He’s also not working in the zone as often, dropping under 50 percent of pitches in the zone for the first time, but still barely walks anyone, which comes from a combination of him throwing more strikes when he falls behind and his ability to get hitters to chase his stuff out of the zone.
Should we crown the Dodgers following the Skubal trade?
Derek VanRiper and Eno Sarris
He’s still an ace, just maybe not “best in baseball” caliber anymore, but this version is still good enough to help the Dodgers in the playoffs. I’m sure I’ll be asked somewhere if this makes the Dodgers “World Series locks” or “prohibitive favorites” or some other folderol; in baseball, that’s just not a thing. Our playoffs are too random for any team, even one as loaded as the Dodgers are right now, to be a lock.
Yes, losing Skubal hurts the Tigers’ playoff chances, although we have seen teams trade away players who seemed key to their odds of seeing October, only to go on runs after the deadline … like the 2024 Tigers. You can lose your best player in baseball and still win. The Tigers were already outscoring their opponents by a significant margin. They should continue to do so, even if the probability of it mattering enough to get them into the last wild-card spot drops with Skubal no longer there.
The return is surprisingly good for a two-month rental (plus October) of a pitcher who was elite as recently as last year. And OK, fine, he’s still elite, but he’s not quite at his Cy Young-level in stuff, and he missed time already this season with loose bodies in his elbow that required surgery. The Tigers obtained two prospects from my midseason top 70, both high-upside players with significant risk factors, and a third who’ll be a top-20 prospect with the Tigers even though he was overshadowed by the crazy depth in the Dodgers’ system. That’s a lot for a rental.
I hope the Tigers promote right-hander River Ryan to the majors as soon as he returns from his IL stint for a hamstring strain, just so I can stop hearing complaints that a 27-year-old pitcher who still retains his rookie status isn’t a “prospect.” Ryan came back this April from a year and a half lost to Tommy John surgery to sit in the upper 90s with a plus slider and plus control in Triple A. He’s a converted position player who only began pitching full-time in 2022, after the Dodgers acquired him in a trade from the Padres, and in that span he’s thrown just 233 innings around elbow surgery, a sore shoulder that never required surgery and this year’s hassle with hamstrings. He’s athletic, he repeats his delivery, he’s got plenty of weapons, and if you didn’t know he’d been hurt so much, you’d watch him and think he was ready to step into a rotation and take the ball 30 times. The Tigers should let him start until his arm says otherwise.
Zyhir Hope, a 21-year-old outfielder, put up strong numbers for Double-A Tulsa. (Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images)
Outfielder Zyhir Hope came to the Dodgers the same way Ryan did, via trade (with the Cubs), and like Ryan took off almost immediately upon joining his new organization. Hope has outstanding bat speed and has turned it into more game power this year, with a career-high 23 homers and a .293/.369/.530 line. He’s only 21 in Double A, and he was raw as a hitter when he entered pro ball. While his whiff rate of 28 percent is a little higher than you want to see, it’s better in the context of his career — and a huge part of that is on stuff well out of the zone. He doesn’t chase those pitches that often (17 percent), but when he does, he whiffs over 70 percent of the time. It’s not an easy thing to fix, but it’s not as bad as someone who struggles with contact in the zone, for example.
He’s a plus-plus athlete who runs well but isn’t good in center, so right field it is. I said before the season I thought he’d hit for a high average with a ton of line drives but not as much over-the-fence power. That has not been true this season, at least not the last part, as he has hit for a high average but also hit the ball over the fence a lot. The Dodgers have so much outfield depth that they could part with Hope and not miss him, but I also can see why they might have decided he was the outfielder from their Double-A/Triple-A group they were willing to trade.
Right-hander Brady Smith was the Dodgers’ third-round pick in 2023. He had Tommy John surgery right away and only made his professional debut in June 2025, 23 months later. He threw just 21 innings last season, so this year has been more of a proper debut for him. He’s made 21 starts and thrown 74 innings already, pitching well enough across the board in Low A to earn a promotion to High A shortly after the All-Star break. Smith has a very fast arm and sits in the mid-90s with a plus-plus changeup that is very deceptive out of his arm and has big tumble to it as it approaches the plate. He can also show an above-average slider that breaks mostly downward. The fastball doesn’t have a ton of life, and there’s effort to the delivery, mostly in its intensity. I could see a mid-rotation starter here, but his probability remains low for now.
Detroit could walk away with an above-average starter who throws something like 140 innings a year, an above-average everyday right fielder and at least a quality reliever if not another starter. That’s quite a return for two months of any player, given how teams presently value years of control. I assume Tigers fans are ticked off right now, and I’m not here to invalidate your feelings. I would only counsel them that this deal may be better for the franchise in 2027 and beyond than you think at first glance.
