Ken Rosenthal, Jeff Passan Exclude Cubs from Lists of Likely Tarik Skubal Suitors
I’m not going to come out and tell you to flat-out ignore all the scoops or “bombs” about the Cubs pushing hard for Tarik Skubal, but I’ll caution you against bad actors that pop up this time of year. Be like Beck and don’t believe everything that you breathe, okay? At the same time, we all know that Jed Hoyer has an uncanny ability to move stealthily. This is the man who had hired Craig Counsell a full day before news of the deal broke.
We can’t even say for sure at this point whether the cream of a strong starting pitching trade crop will be traded at all, though the Tigers’ 50-57 record and his expiring deal tell us he will be. Once the Tigers dropped their game in a row on Monday night, you can bet Scott Harris’s phone started buzzing. According to Ken Rosenthal, the teams expected to generate the most calls about Skubal are the Rays, Brewers, Braves, Yankees, and Dodgers.
In the latest edition (X link) of Sources Tell Jeff Passan, the eponymous host listed the Rays, Brewers, Phillies, Braves, and Dodgers as teams that want Skubal. That’s quite a bit of overlap, and you’ll notice one glaring omission. Neither very reputable reporter mentioned the Cubs, who have never been considered a realistic option by anyone other than rumor-mongers.
The closest they have gotten was when Rosenthal and Will Sammon listed them in Tier 5 when ranking the most likely destinations for the best lefty on the planet back on July 23. Their reasoning is the same as what we’ve made here on more than one occasion, so there’s little need to get too deep into it. Suffice to say the cost is almost certainly too much for Jed Hoyer in light of the uncertainty of a Wild Card berth, not to mention Skubal’s status as a rental.
Rosenthal and Sammon included the Phillies alongside the Yankees and Braves, which draws the pictures into even closer alignment. Maybe that means it creates a 3D image of the Cubs if you relax your focus just enough, kind of like that schooner in Mallrats. Or maybe continuing to believe Skubal will wind up on the North Side will leave you in a very uncomfortable place.
Like the back of a Volkswagen?
Hope is a powerful drug, especially this time of year, and it can be very fun when used recreationally. Just don’t get so caught up in it that you end up needing a dose of NARCAN when the trade deadline comes and goes and you discover your fix has been stepped on with some bad stuff. Or hey, maybe Hoyer will shock everyone by pulling off a monster deal that sends the Cubs skyrocketing to the World Series.
