Braves' Tarik Skubal trade update has a Dodgers component
braves/news/braves-tarik-skubal-trade-update-dodgers-component/e0e3f7cc51a6975c051154af?utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=appeared_on">Braves’ Tarik Skubal trade update has a Dodgers component originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Atlanta Braves have begun the season on fire, and it’s not even that early anymore.
At the moment, the Braves are simply as good as any team in MLB, and that means that as the trade deadline gets closer, they’ll be dreaming big. One name stands out about the rest, of course: Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal.
Skubal has to get healthy, but if he does, he’s in a contract year and will be the most popularly rumored name up until the moment a move is made, or not made.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote in a new article on Thursday that the Braves owe it to themselves to be in the mix for Skubal — it might be their best chance to get past the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League postseason.
“So why Skubal? Because he’s Skubal,” Passan writes. :And because all those young arms — not to mention J.R. Ritchie and Cam Caminiti in the minor leagues, and Didier Fuentes at the big league level — give them the firepower to get him. To beat the Dodgers, teams need to assemble a wrecking crew that can go toe-to-toe with the first back-to-back World Series champions in a quarter-century. Starting a series with Skubal and Chris Sale — and having Spencer Strider and Bryce Elder to fill out the rotation — is quite a place to begin.”
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The Braves should also get healthier as the season goes along, knock on wood.
“The Braves have been the best team in baseball this season, something of a stunning outcome considering their inconsistency over the previous two seasons and the spate of injuries that bludgeoned their rotation this spring,” Passan writes. “Well, one of those arms, Hurston Waldrep, is on a rehab assignment. Another, Spencer Schwellenbach, is throwing. And A.J. Smith-Shawver, who underwent Tommy John surgery last year, is ramping up bullpens. It’s not out of the question for all three to rejoin Atlanta by the end of the season.”
So yeah, the Braves have a loaded setup to trade for Skubal. They’d need the Tigers to commit to moving the southpaw, and then Atlanta would have to outbid everyone.
But at this point, it’s firmly in play. It’ll be something to keep close track of, because if the Braves pull off a Skubal deal, it might just make them World Series favorites.