TRADE REACTION: Skubal Goes to the Bad Guys
The Dodgers add the best pitcher in baseball
I guess it’s a little bit better since Skubal didn’t choose this. Not to say he wouldn’t have, and not to say he won’t this winter! But for now, we can’t blame him for being #partoftheproblem.
The Dodgers just added the best pitcher in the league and are now showing at a near 50% chance to win the World Series. If the Dodgers are healthy, they will have Skubal, Yamamoto, Snell, Glasnow, Wrobleski, and Ohtani to choose from for the postseason rotation. Teams don’t even need five starters in the postseason with the urgency and the extra off days. If those guys weren’t all so good, you’d think they’d just leave the worst one of them off entirely - but it’s not even clear who that is.
My guess would be Skubal + Yamamoto + Snell + Ohtani. Maybe a Snell/Glasnow piggyback situation or something. Snell in particular has to feel some kind of way. He signed a huge free agent deal to be an ace for them, and now he’s a total afterthought.
It’s bad news for Emmet Sheehan and Roki Sasaki imminently. Snell is back pretty soon, so these two might only have a turn or two left in the rotation before the Dodgers simply don’t need them anymore. Sasaki showed big value as a reliever late last year, so I’d imagine that’s where he goes back to. But this year, they have that Edwin Diaz guy for the big leverage spots.
It’s a ridiculously good collection of pitchers the Dodgers have, probably the best of all time, and it will be tough to knock them out in a five or seven-game playoff set. Not impossible, of course, it’s baseball. I’d still put my money on the field to win the World Series, but yeah, it’s reasonable to be pretty annoyed by all of this.
The Tigers Return
Zyhir Hope
He’s our #52 prospect in basball and the Dodgers #4 guy. He’s #5 in the LA system per MLB. He’s a 21-year-old outfielder currently in AA. fScores:
Well-rounded player. Good power, and at least average in everything. Not often you see 100+ in all four of those big categories there, so Hope does look like a pretty solid prospect.
But it wasn’t the Dodgers top guy, at least not as far as Tim Kanak ranks it! Maybe he was the Tigers choice, who knows. But De Paula, Quintero, and Sirota are well ahead of him in lists I’ve seen.
Stats by year:
23 bombs, 18 steals, .899 OPS in just 94 games this year. Very good stuff.
River Ryan
This is good news for Ryan and probably someone who immediately matters for fantasy. The guy had no chance to ever get into that Dodgers rotation, but now there’s a clear path for him to be a big league regular. He’s a 27 year old prospect, so it’s been a long road for him. But he’s a big dude with a huge fastball and definitely has Major League talent in his arm.
This year:
Remember this is in the PCL, where it’s really tough to pitch. You really like to see the 22% K-BB%. Here’s the pitch mix:
The fastball looks very good, and he has a good slider with it as well. Who knows if it’ll all work in the Majors. He could have command issues, but at least we’re going to find out really soon. He’s 27, time to get going! But he is on the IL currently with a hamstring thing that happened in June. So you won’t see him in the Tigers rotation right away.
Brady Smith
21-year-old pitcher with good stuff, but not regarded highly on prospect lists.
Huge K% numbers this year and last, and he’s done a really good job with walks as well:
9.4% is good to see in the minors, especially after a wild 11 innings in 2025. I don’t have much more on the guy, we’ll get Tim to give some thoughts on the prospects that get moved at this deadline.
If you have these Dodgers prospects in dynasty, you have to like when they get traded. It’s much easier to find regular playing time with the Tigers than the Dodgers.
Happy Sunday!