Blue Jays, Cubs predicted to battle for Tarik Skubal at MLB trade deadline

Blue Jays, Cubs predicted to battle for Tarik Skubal at MLB trade deadline originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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With the expectation that the Detroit Tigers are finally going to move on from Tarik Skubal, considering there wouldn’t really be much of a reason to keep him around because of how poorly they’ve played throughout the year, Skubal getting injured and now being on a rehab assignment, and the fact that he hits free agency at the end of the season, there are a few teams that make a bit more sense for the left-hander than others. 

One of them is the Los Angeles Dodgers, of course, though it’s believed that the Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays, and Chicago Cubs make the most sense for the two-time Cy Young Award winner.

One writer recently predicted, however, that the Cubs would win the sweepstakes, a move that would be a major surprise.

“The Dodgers are the team most frequently connected to Tarik Skubal. It makes sense. Los Angeles has MLB’s deepest farm system and the financial liquidity to re-sign the reigning AL Cy Young winner as a free agent…

“Milwaukee, Toronto and others teams will invariably be mentioned in Skubal conversations, but look out for the Cubs. Jed Hoyer showed his appetite for bold, risky rentals with the Kyle Tucker trade a year ago. Skubal would transform a talented-but-injury-prone Cubs rotation,” Cristopher Kline wrote.

I understand what Kline is saying here, as it’s rather obvious that the Cubs need help. 

The only question is whether Jed Hoyer will actually make the necessary moves to ensure his team does what’s needed to get that help. Unfortunately, I don’t really trust him to do that.

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