Can the Blue Jays recreate a David Price trade package for Tigers ace Tarik Skubal?

Let's rewind the clock to the summer of 2015. The Toronto Blue Jays, on July 30, were 52-51 and were sitting third in the AL East, six games back of the division leading Yankees and two games out of a Wild Card spot. At that point it had been 22 years since the Blue Jays had even made the postseason and General Manager Alex Anthopolous was determined to end that streak.

On that day he made arguably his most significant deal of the summer, by acquiring one of the best pitchers in the game in David Price. Anthopolous sent a package of players to the Detroit Tigers to acquire the 29-year-old, who was a five-time All-Star, a former Cy Young award winner and had finished top two in voting in two other occasions.

The Tigers received Matthew Boyd, Jairo Labourt and Daniel Norris in exchange for the impending free agent. With hindsight being what it is, the Tigers probably would've liked to have had a little bit more of a return, but there's no doubt at the time that it felt like a reasonable price to pay for the Blue Jays, as the Tigers were betting on the high upside of all three players. They also saw the writing on the wall with Price set to hit free agency that offseason.

With all of that background information now in the forefront, the question must be asked; Can the Blue Jays put together another package that would entice the Tigers to part ways with their current ace, who is also an impending free agent at the end of the 2026 season?

Can the Blue Jays recreate a David Price trade package for Tigers ace Tarik Skubal?

To preface, it's not an exact apples to apples comparison, but there are a lot of similarities between the Price and Skubal situation. Price was dealt during his age 29 season and Skubal just turned 29 on Nov. 20. Both players are at the top of the list among some of the best pitchers in the game, and are expected to command a massive salary when they do hit free agency.

If the Tigers go into the season with Skubal still under their employ and are out of contention at the deadline, what could Toronto possibly offer them in a trade that would feel good for both sides? Certainly the Tigers in 2015 felt that package of prospects was good enough to get the deal done, and not wanting to lose Price for anything in return, they pulled the trigger. The 2026 Tigers could feel squeezed into a similar situation by the time the end of July rolls around.

The Blue Jays currently have an intriguing farm system that has some high end prospects, but this front office regime has scarcely parted ways with those coveted players. If we build a trade proposal that mirrors the 2015 deal, the Blue Jays would likely have to give up the following players: Ricky Tiedemann, one or two of Johnny King, Gage Stanifer, or Jake Bloss and possibly Tim Piasentin, Sam Shaw or Cutter Coffey.

How does it compare?

What the Tigers of 2015 got in return was the Blue Jays No. 1 overall prospect in Norris, their No. 22 prospect in Boyd, and a project pick in Labourt. In 2025, Trey Yesavage is Toronto's number one prospect going into the season and it's extremely unlikely the Blue Jays will move him, so instead they would have to be willing to give up multiple top 30 prospects to get the deal done.

Tiedemann is their No. 4 guy and like Norris and Boyd in the 2015 deal, he could have an impact on the big league team as early as 2026. King is No. 5 in the system and Stanifer is No. 6. Both are pitchers that are two to three years away from their big league debuts and the Tigers would want at least one guy they could have soon and another guy they could develop for their rotation if they are losing a stud pitcher like Skubal.

Bloss is also an interesting name. He's the No. 8 prospect and has limited big league experience under his belt, but dealt with injuries throughout most of 2025 and he'll be looking to re-establish himself in 2026. Should he have a strong start to the season, the Tigers might be fine taking Tiedemann and Bloss, which would be very similar to what they accepted in 2015.

The position players mentioned; Shaw, Piasentin, and Coffey are the 19, 20 and 27 ranked prospects respectively. In 2015 the Tigers only got two top 30 prospects and in this hypothetical deal, we're listing seven players all in the Blue Jays top 30. None of these three position players are expected to be close to making their MLB debuts, but in today's game, and for a talent like Skubal, adding on prospect capital is usually how these deals get across the finish line.

There are things to like about all three guys if you are the Blue Jays. Each of them have intriguing tools that could play up if developed properly, but there are also only so many chances to get a sure-fire top of the line talent like Skubal. In 2015 Anthopolous had that exact mindset when he made the deal with the Tigers, and looking back, it feels like Detroit probably should have gotten more out of the deal in terms of the eventual success, or lack thereof of the three players they received.

In 2026, a combination of three or four of those players would mirror the package Toronto used to get Price at the deadline in 2015.