Dodgers’ deadline isn’t done, but they got the only guy they targeted in Tarik Skubal

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers did not complete their deadline discussions on Saturday night when they (who else?) swung yet another megadeal, this time acquiring two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers.

They just acquired the only player they identified as a true deadline target.

“It was Skubal or nothing, essentially,” manager Dave Roberts said Sunday afternoon, uncovering what had been a month of downplaying and sandbagging from the Dodgers’ brass about acquiring him.

Skubal was the target, and the rental represented the only true difference-maker on the open market for a Dodgers roster seeking its third consecutive title.

“Whenever there’s a star-level player that is available that can really shift championship odds, those are the moments that we’ll be more aggressive,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Sunday afternoon in the afterglow of the move.

Computer tabulations still don’t guarantee it. This is the same Dodgers team that was on the brink of elimination in the 2024 NLDS and the 2025 World Series. But the numbers bear it out. Before acquiring Skubal, FanGraphs gave the Dodgers 25.7 percent odds of winning the World Series. As of Sunday afternoon, those odds rose to 30.4 percent. That is a meaningful increase.

That difference meant Skubal was worth the risks. He is 88 days removed from surgery to remove a loose body from his left elbow and is on the brink of what is expected to be a record-setting free-agent deal. While the Dodgers did not surrender any of their top three prospects in the deal, they run the risk of Zyhir Hope tapping into his supreme upside as a corner outfielder, or River Ryan catching a run of health and morphing into a top-line starter, or Brady Smith becoming the Yordan Alvarez-esque flier who comes back to bite them.

It was still clearly a risk worth taking, and a risk assessment that the other clubs with deep farm systems and apparent interest in Skubal weren’t able, or willing, to take.

“We gave up a lot of talent,” Friedman said. “Those guys are really good. And have a chance to be really good major-league players. But again, with where our core is, this moment in time, it was something that we felt like, erring on the side of aggressive made the most sense right now.”

The Dodgers have their advantages, Friedman acknowledged. Their spending can allow them to be risk-averse. Their deep farm system meant they had several avenues to pursue a trade with the Tigers for Skubal, ultimately handing them a package for a big-league-ready starter, a high-upside outfielder and a recent third-round draft pick while still having the freedom to go through different machinations.

They also have Friedman, who has a penchant for getting deals across the finish line.

While the Dodgers viewed Skubal as an obvious target, conversations on the left-hander did not start in earnest until Friday morning. Friedman and Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris have worked together on deadline deals before, from the 2023 deal for Eduardo Rodriguez (that Rodriguez vetoed) to the deal that landed Jack Flaherty in 2024.

The two executives exchanged names and different trade machinations throughout Saturday. By the time first pitch neared between the Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox, the deal had progressed enough that Friedman alerted Roberts that a deal was close. At ONEOK Field in Tulsa, the home of the Dodgers’ Double-A affiliate, Hope and fellow outfield prospect Kendall George were scratched from the night’s lineup just before game time.

A deal was cemented during the Dodgers’ eventual 3-2 loss to Boston. In Sacramento, shortly after the Tigers finished their own game, Skubal received a phone call that he’d been dealt. Word of the deal trickled quickly through the Dodgers’ clubhouse.

“It was surprising,” infielder Miguel Rojas said, “but at the same time not.”

That’s because no other option truly made sense for the Dodgers. Just last week, Friedman sat in the news conference room at Dodger Stadium and said his club had no “acute needs.” They still do not, though they have now added a pitcher who might be the best in baseball when healthy.

They do not have much work to do adding to the big-league roster. Their lineup has had stops and starts, but has been one of the best in baseball this season. Their pitching got even better with Skubal, and their bullpen got better by proxy as one or more of these uber-talented starting pitchers will be kicked into a relief role come October.

Making another supplementary move to the major-league roster is “less likely,” Friedman said Sunday. That does not mean the Dodgers’ work is done before Monday’s 3 p.m. PT trade deadline. The club is exploring deals to trade away outfielder Alex Call, said a league source who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the fluidity of the club’s plans. They have spent much of the same week doing the same for Eric Lauer, who was informed he will be moving into a bulk role with Skubal’s addition.

The organization still has a surplus of outfield prospects they must address, potentially in prospect-for-prospect deals to add to further areas of need and clear space for promotions for players such as top prospect Josue De Paula. He launched his 20th home run of the season, and his third in the past two days, on Sunday afternoon for Double-A Tulsa.

They are not done. But they have the guy they wanted all along.