Blue Jays have 1 of 2 ways to approach Tarik Skubal sweepstakes at trade deadline

The closer we get to the MLB trade deadline the more Tarik Skubal's name keeps surfacing in trade rumours. The 29-year-old right hander is set to become the top free agent in baseball following the end of the 2025 season and it is very unlikely that the Detroit Tigers can reach an extension with him before that contract expires. The Tigers are struggling in the AL Central and trying to chase down three teams within that division, and they remain in the lower third of the American League altogether.

The Tigers could also trade him to a contender and then try and sign him in the offseason (pending on the rules of the next CBA) while recouping a haul of players and prospects that could help them now and into the future. Because it will cost a haul to get a guy who has posted a 10.38 K/9 rate and 1.98 BB/9 rate in 144 career MLB games. Skubal has been worth 20.8 fWAR with 934 strikeouts in 810 innings pitched.

It's not hard to see why he's going to be so sought after at the deadline and the Toronto Blue Jays have been linked as a team that will remain interested in acquiring his services. However, the chances of them getting him are less likely as starting pitching - of this caliber - probably won't be their top priority at the deadline.

Sure, they'll likely add an arm, but based on the history of general manager Ross Atkins, they'll be shopping in a tier below. But they don't have to completely fold before an actual move is made. In fact the best laid plans for the Blue Jays would be to stay "in the hunt" for as long as they can.

If the Blue Jays can't get him - make it almost impossible for anybody else to get Skubal as well

What the Blue Jays should be doing, if they think they can't match Detroits asking price, is drive up that asking price as high as they can. Outside of the Blue Jays the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, and Los Angeles Dodgers have been named among the finalists to be a team who would trade for Skubal. The Blue Jays' path to get back to the World Series is already going to be difficult enough, they don't need any of the teams ahead of them to add an arm like Skubal's to their rotation.

Both the Yankees and the Rays have been fighting at the top of the AL East division for much of the season. They are currently neck and neck with each other and barring any unforeseen slump or major injury scares (although the rib stress fracture to Aaron Judge certainly qualifies), those teams should continue to do well and certainly find themselves as buyers at the deadline.

While many aren't surprised to see the Yankees being involved in trade talks, the Rays are raising some eyebrows. But they are a team that is gaining traction in a lot of circles as a dark horse candidate to make a play for him. In fact, Jim Bowden with The Athletic thinks the Rays are the second best option to put together a package for Skubal.

The top option that Bowden lists are the Dodgers, because apparently a rotation of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, Roki Saski, Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell isn't already good enough - when healthy. If the Blue Jays were to meet the Dodgers again in the World Series, it would be that much harder to take them down if they added Skubal to this gauntlet of arms.

What the Blue Jays can do is just keep trickling in offers that keep the Tigers enticed enough to see if they can get a little more from those other teams. Toronto should really only have a couple of guys on their no-trade list to begin with. While they are developing a farm system that has some really intriguing pieces, sometimes prospects can really break your heart and it would be really disheartning to look back in a couple of years and see what they could have had if they just made a bit more of an effort.

At this year's trade deadline it might not come down to just what the Blue Jays do, but how much they force their rivals to do that could make all the difference.

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