New intel reveals a denied Braves path for Tigers in Tarik Skubal trade talks

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the Dodgers and Braves are headed back to the NLCS. The entire LCS slate turned out (almost) the way everyone expected, as the three teams with the best regular season records in baseball have advanced to fight for their league's pennants, with the Guardians (ugh) playing spoiler on the American League side.

Tarik Skubal will get the ball for Game 1 of the NLCS against Jacob Misiorowski and a Brewers team that was rumored to be in on Skubal's trade market at the deadline. The Dodgers just rolled through their NLDS against the Braves, who were also in on the Skubal chase.

The Tigers seemed enamored by the package the Dodgers had to offer, but that doesn't mean that Scott Harris didn't negotiate with other teams. He was reportedly asking for a king's ransom, which only Andrew Friedman and LA were willing to give up for a rental.

According to Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, the Braves were unwilling to part with reliever and potential closer-in-the-making Didier Fuentes, who posted a 2.45 ERA in 73 1/3 innings and a 3.86 ERA this postseason. In Atlanta's only win of the NLDS, he pitched an admirable 3 2/3-inning appearance and only gave up one run — a Max Muncy home run down to LA's last strike.

Braves were reportedly unwilling to give up Didier Fuentes in Tarik Skubal trade talks with Tigers

Fuentes was included in our Braves-Tigers trade proposal for Skubal alongside starter JR Ritchie and outfield prospect Patrick Clohisy. In an ideal world, that is how the trade would've shaken out: a controllable starter, a controllable backend bullpen arm, and a controllable outfielder.

The Dodgers were willing to give up two out of three in starter River Ryan and outfielder Zyhir Hope (and the jury will remain out on Brady Smith). The Tigers knew that none would be available to help them immediately, but the pedigree was evidently too hard to pass up.

Atlanta including Fuentes would've given them a leg up. Here was a controllable bullpen arm who's being primed for a long-term future as a closer, who could've slotted into the Tigers' awful bullpen immediately and maybe helped them thread the needle far more effectively than they actually did.

The teams that chose to back out of the Skubal bidding, including the Braves and Brewers, will have all offseason to ponder whether or not they should've just buckled down and overpaid for a rental — because it's working out pretty swimmingly for the Dodgers.

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