Tigers’ brutal Tarik Skubal return could cost Blue Jays in Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber talks

The Los Angeles Dodgers broke baseball on Saturday night (Aug. 1) by trading for Tarik Skubal — and somehow managed to do it without giving the Detroit Tigers a massive return.

This could directly impact the Toronto Blue Jays when teams call them about Kevin Gausman and Shane Bieber. This has officially become a buyer’s market, and that is bad news for Toronto.

How will the Skubal trade affect the market for Gausman and Bieber?

The Dodgers getting even better is a tough pill to swallow for Blue Jays fans, but so is the Tigers getting ripped off for one of the best pitchers in the game.

Zyhir Hope is the headliner in this deal, a consensus top-50 prospect in all of baseball. That sounds like a great return for a rental until you realize he wasn’t even the best outfield prospect on his own team in Double-A, behind both Mike Sirota and Josue De Paula.

Hope was only the Dodgers’ fifth-ranked prospect at the time of the trade. It’s a testament to the strength of their farm system, yes, but also an indictment of the Tigers for not shooting higher. De Paula would never have been in play, but could they have held firm on someone like Sirota? 

The other pieces going back aren’t that impressive, either. River Ryan is another top-100 guy, but is already 27 years old with a Tommy John surgery under his belt. He’s only two years younger than Skubal. Brady Smith, meanwhile, ranked as the organization’s 17th-best prospect before being dealt. Whether either of them pans out is to be determined. 

The issue isn’t that the Tigers didn’t get good prospects—they absolutely did—but rather that they didn’t get any of the Dodgers’ best prospects. That’s a key difference, especially when negotiating with a team that has won two consecutive World Series titles. 

Gausman and Bieber were never going to command anything near what the Tigers got for Skubal, but now their value has likely gone down. If the Dodgers didn’t have to truly pony up for arguably the most talented pitcher in the sport, why would any team overpay for those two? 

It wouldn’t be shocking if teams now refuse to offer even a top 10 prospect in their organization for Gausman. Bieber, meanwhile, might not even net a top-20 guy. That might have always been the case, but it’s hard not to think this Skubal deal hasn’t negatively impacted their market.

Of course, the teams that struck out on Skubal could now find themselves in a bidding war for someone like Gausman. He looked sharp in his potential final start as a Blue Jay, and has the postseason pedigree contending teams want. A good offer could still materialize as desperation sinks in closer to Monday's deadline.

Still, the most likely scenario at this juncture is that the Blue Jays trade Gausman for less than they would like—and they will have the Tigers to thank for it.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow