Dodgers Land Skubal; Friedman: We're Not Ruining Baseball
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- The Dodgers acquired Skubal from the Tigers for outfielder Zyhir Hope and starting pitchers River Ryan and Brady Smith, with Tigers president Scott Harris asking about consensus top-25 prospect Josue DePaula but being rebuffed.
- Andrew Friedman said he "passionately disagreed" with the claim the Dodgers are ruining baseball, arguing the deal was one "that no one else couldn't have done" and calling it a rare, special moment the franchise won't be "flippant" about.
- Dave Roberts acknowledged "there's always blowback with us" but credited the front office, noting the Dodgers still have "arguably the top one or two or three farm systems in baseball" after the deal.
- Skubal went 31-10 with a 2.30 ERA and 469 strikeouts in 387⅓ innings across 2024-2025, leading all MLB pitchers with 12.6 FanGraphs WAR; he underwent a less-invasive NanoScope procedure on bone chips in his left elbow and posted a 2.03 ERA in July.
- The Dodgers were already tied with the Brewers for the best rotation ERA in the majors entering Sunday; Eric Lauer is moving to the bullpen and is widely expected to be traded before Monday's 3 p.m. PT deadline, while Skubal is set to debut Tuesday against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
- The Dodgers kept DePaula, Mike Sirota and Eduardo Quintero on the outfield prospect front, plus all of their young MLB starters — Emmet Sheehan, Justin Wrobleski and Roki Sasaki — after the deal.
- Rival scouts, executives and players privately panned the Tigers' return, questioning why Milwaukee and Tampa Bay "didn't step up" to block Skubal from going to Los Angeles, per the source.
Why it matters: The Dodgers added the consensus best pitcher available — Skubal's 12.6 FanGraphs WAR led all MLB pitchers from 2024-2025 — while refusing to include top-25 prospect DePaula and holding on to Sheehan, Wrobleski and Sasaki. That depth is the structural advantage Friedman leaned on in his defense: even after parting with three prospects, Los Angeles still fields one of baseball's two or three best farm systems.
