Detroit Tigers: 3 potential Tarik Skubal trades

Detroit Tigers Tarik Skubal Trade Partner: The St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals seem like an ideal candidate for this sort of trade. They currently boast a top-ten offense, filled with a solid mix of All-Star veterans and young regulars. But the Cardinals are also working with a bottom-five pitching staff, anchored by 34-year-old Miles Mikolas and Adam Wainwright, who turns 41 in a month. Jack Flaherty and Steven Matz are hurt, Dakota Hudson doesn’t strike out anyone, Jordan Hicks walks everyone, and Matthew Liberatore and Andre Pallante are rookies going through the usual bumps.

St. Louis’ bullpen has been solid, but it could certainly use more depth. Ryan Helsley has been a revelation this year, and Giovanny Gallegos is a quality setup man. Maybe the Tigers can help the Cardinals in two areas:

Jordan Walker is elite. He’s a 6’5, 220lb. third baseman with huge raw power, and he’s currently batting .304/.393/.486 as a 20-year-old in Double-A. He’s a top-10 prospect prospect in baseball, and the Cardinals almost certainly don’t want to trade him. But you have to spend money to make money, and the Cardinals happen to have third baseman Nolan Arenado signed through the 2026 season, and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt signed through 2024.

Alec Burleson was a two-way player at East Carolina, but he has abandoned the mound in pro ball and turned into a pretty darn good hitter. Now 23, Burleson is batting .338/.380/.552 with 17 home runs for Triple-A Memphis this year, and he looks the part of an average regular in an outfield corner. Freddy Pacheco is a 24-year-old reliever with a big arm and good results in the upper minors, and Johan Oviedo is a 24-year-old pitcher with a big body, a big arm, and not a whole lot of success through 111 big-league innings.

Detroit Tigers Tarik Skubal Trade Partner: The Los Angeles Dodgers

Do the Dodgers need Tarik Skubal? No, not really. They have a top-five pitching staff this year, even with Walker Buehler and Andrew Heaney and Dustin May injured. But then they didn’t really need Mookie Betts when they acquired him, and they didn’t really need Max Scherzer and Trea Turner last year. They are a good team, and they like to get better whenever possible. Tarik Skubal would make them better, and so would Michael Fulmer.

The Dodgers lost Daniel Hudson for the year, so Fulmer would help pad out their bullpen a bit. Meanwhile, in Miguel Vargas and Michael Busch the Tigers get a pair of gifted hitters with limitation-driven defensive versatility. Vargas is 22 and a career .311 hitter over 386 minor-league games, and he’s done that while maintaining a strikeout rate of 15% and a walk rate of 10%. As a hitter he’s reminiscent of the good version of Jeimer Candelario, working the gaps and probably topping out around 20 home runs per season. He is primarily a third baseman, but he’s also seen time at first base, second base, and left field.

Michael Busch is a little reminiscent of current Dodgers second baseman Max Muncy. He has more raw power than Vargas, but he figures to hit for a lower average while maintaining high walk and strikeout rates. He’s a bit stretched defensively at second base, but can also play first base and an outfield corner. Gavin Stone was L.A.’s 5th-round pick in 2020, and he has taken off in the Dodgers’ player development machine, looking like a potential mid-rotation starter. Nick Robertson is a tall reliever with a big fastball and two secondary offerings that show promise.

Detroit Tigers Tarik Skubal Trade Partner: The Seattle Mariners

Seattle has one thing teams always look for in a trade partner: desperation. They haven’t been to the playoffs since 2001, and they fell agonizingly short of the postseason last year. Their red-hot July (17-4) has them in strong position to make it this year, but they could use a few upgrades as they try to secure their spot. Robbie Ray is pitching well after a rough start to the year, and Logan Gilbert has taking a big step forward this season. But the rest of the rotation is a bit light, and everyone can use bullpen help. Let’s make a deal:

Tarik Skubal isn’t from Seattle, but he spent four years there in college, so this would be something of a homecoming for him. The Mariners have handled left-handed batters pretty well this year, but they didn’t have any high-leverage left-handed relievers, so they traded for Ryan Borucki last month. Andrew Chafin would give them another reliable bullpen arm for at least this season.

From the Tigers perspective this is a deal with huge risks, but also plenty of potential reward. Jarred Kelenic was a top-ten prospect in baseball, but he has stumbled spectacularly in his two stints in the big leagues. He once seemed like an untouchable part of Seattle’s future, but with Julio Rodriguez looking the part of a future superstar, Kelenic now feels a bit like yesterday’s news.

Noelvi Marte came into the season as a top-20 prospect in baseball, but his prospect status slipped a bit as he struggled in the first half of the season. He’s been very error-prone as a shortstop, so he may have to move positions, but he’s a 20-year-old with big-time power and a solid approach at the plate, and he’s hitting .356/.447/.712 with seven home runs in July.

Emerson Hancock was a big name heading into the 2020 draft, when Seattle took him 6th overall, but he’s thrown just over 90 innings in professional baseball. He’s had shoulder troubles, and he looked a little reliever-ish at the Futures Game, but he also struck out all three batters he faced, and he still has mid-rotation upside. Marco Gonzales isn’t very good, but he’s a reliable veteran who has posted an ERA of 4.00 or better in each of the last five seasons. He’s under contract for the next two years for a total cost of $18.5 million, so the Tigers would be freeing a bit of money for the Mariners while finding someone to eat innings as they continue wandering the baseball desert.