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Thought I’d start a thread about the trades in MLB at the deadline. All trades, just not the ones involving St. Louis.
And as an FYI,
It’s being reported that Luis Arraez of the Giants is out of the lineup tonight in San Diego. And I believe the announcer said a couple of Doyers prospects are out of the lineup in the minors.r/Esteemed Rat
Luis Castillo to White Sox.
Breaking: The Chicago White Sox are acquiring right-hander Luis Castillo in a trade with the Seattle Mariners for reliever Seranthony Dominguez, outfielder Nolan Jones and catching prospect Boston Smith, sources tell @JeffPassan
Also the Royals traded Lane Thomas and Bailey Falter to the Braves for minor league pitchers Lucas Braun and Carter Holton.
Yep, the Doyers got Skubal.
I bet Liberatore was their 2nd choice if they didn’t get Skubal.
Still wondering about Luis Arraez.
No big surprise the Dodgers got Skubal. It doesn’t really have that much to do with money though. Skubal is owed about $10M so a lot of teams could have afforded that but the Dodgers also have one of the best farm systems in MLB. Must be nice to have the most money and the best minor league system.
Hey I am just glad the Cubs didn’t get him…ha ha
It WILL be about money. They didn’t acquire Skubal to see him walk away in free agency. He will sign a long term deal to stay with LA. Count on it.
It is an interesting model that the Dodgers seem to use their prospect capital to acquire veterans, who get lavish contracts to stay. I did the legwork a few months ago, and at that time, I think they had only one homegrown starter, Pages. The entire rotation and closer were also imports, whether trade acquisitions or free agent signings.
This article is spot on. Keep in mind that Manfred and Company desperately want the Dodgers to win another championship because they believe it will help them peddle their ill-fated attempt for a salary cap. A Brewers-Rays World Series would be horrific for the owners because it would bust their narrative to pieces.
Revenue disparity is an issue but there other ways to address it than a kamikaze attempt at a salary cap which will only shut the league down and destroy any momentum built up recently from popular items like the pitch clock and ABS. The reality is that this is about trying to drive up team values.
Tarik Skubal addition takes anti-Dodger hysteria to new heights as MLB lockout looms. Column, unlocked and free to read: https://t.co/nX8RTt6tFK
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) August 2, 2026
A lot of teams could of had skubal if they so wanted to or at least been in the running to get him. Tigers could have kept him and paid him what he deserved but they chose not to so i dont feel sorry for them. I wouldnt be so quick to say hes going to stay with dodgers. He may not want to be another great pitcher on a roster of great pitchers. He may though, we will see. But i dont feel sorry for any of these so called poor teams amd that def includes cardinals.
Nothing is sure, but how many big acquisitions left the Dodgers to go elsewhere vs. how many stayed? The precedent is clearly there, but maybe the CBA mess will muddy the water. It is also worth noting that Skubal is a Boras client and he isn’t afraid to go elsewhere if the deal is not to his liking.
P.S. I forgot that Skubal began as a ninth-round draft pick.
This is very detailed and rational rebuttal to Ken Rosenthal. The author is Tim Williams, who has run Pirates Prospects at least as long as I have been here.
The framing of MLB's economics from national media is a problem.
"Anti-Dodger hysteria" is a choice.
The free article from Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic treats the complaints about the Dodgers as an annoyance, in the midst of an attempt to glaze the Dodgers for not only being… https://t.co/rJ4cXBqF6z
— Pirates Prospects (@pirateprospects) August 2, 2026
I really have to wonder about milwaukee here. Are they really serious about winning or just about being good every year. Now skubal doesnt guarantee a win for them or even the dodgers but he ups the percentages. I wonder what they were offering. They were willing to take on the remainder of this years money for skubal but that was only 9.4 million so it wasnt like a monstrous amount. Apparently they didnt want to risk their top prospect. Looking at the dodgers prospects given up, outside of the 21 year old outfielder i dont think they gave a lot up. The 27 year old is in triple a but if he was really that good, he would already be up by now. So i think milwaukee could have had him but instead foolishly held onto a prospect. Sure maybe they wouldnt pay skubal so they wouldnt keep him but i think world series would be worth it. If the cardinals were where milwaukee is right now with a great team in first place and a great minor league system, and said we arent giving up rodriguez or whoever our top prospect is, i would be one livid fan. It just tells me that more teams than i thought want to coast by on hope and keep collecting steady revenue than really want to win. So now i wont be pulling for milwaukee though in fairness milwaukee winning would be a notch against the greedy owners and mlb. But i cant do that. Winning should be for the teams that want it most, that lay it on the line, not for the meek that want to live on hope.
The new CBA could prevent them financially from re-signing Skubal with a hard cap or much more harsh soft cap penalties. But they also likely are more incentives to sign him to a long term deal during the season or before the lockout officially begins.
The reason I think there is more incentive to sign him early is the new CBA likely will have some grace period for teams to drop down from pre-CBA term changes. Even if they put a hard cap (I’m opposed), there wouldn’t be a way for the Dodgers, Mets, and some other teams to drop down as they already have commitments for way above the amount the cap would be.
Agree, ATM. The Dodgers know how to operate within today’s rules. It is only uncertainty after that. Even Boras might agree with the “act now” approach. The odds that the next system will be more advantageous for the high-spending teams seem low.
Do we really think there is going to be a hard cap OR a ‘hard cap’ that can be exceeded by paying a luxury tax? There’s an enormous difference between those two things.
the new CBA likely will have some grace period for teams to drop down
I doubt there will be any drop down.
My theory is both sides want to maximize the size of the pie. Everyone will fight over how to divide it up, but they all want to maximize it. That is common ground. Southern California is a huge flabby bloated market that dumps a huge amount of revenue into the pie. Its a golden goose and nobody wants to kill it. Dodgers ownership consists of rich people who don’t spend money unless it will make them back even more money. They understand their market and their customers. Since they spend big on marquee stars and winning, it follows that they know they need a roster of marquee stars and they have to win. That is what it takes to keep the golden goose fat and happy. Whatever is decided, the golden goose will stay fat and happy.
Thanks for sharing that article Brian. That was very well written. I was trying to make that argument in far fewer words and less eloquently a couple weeks ago. It’s not just about the advantages the Dodgers have on the field. It’s definitely about their off-field advantages too. I don’t believe a salary cap is the clear answer. I’d rather see far more revenue sharing and a salary floor. I think that’s something both sides could agree on.
The issue with a salary floor is the big money teams will still get the best players. There will be more competition in the FA market for the second tier FAs that are still there after the big money teams sign the top tier. So the second tier FAs will cost more, but still end up playing for somebody besides the big money teams, just like now. The money teams will still have the best players, so what does that do for us fans of the game?
That’s where the more revenue sharing part comes in. Ideally, they would all equally share revenue or at least all revenue up to a certain point and all have a substantial floor so they are forced to spend it.
The return the Tigers got for Skubal was nice but not earth shattering.
The Dodgers have a good farm system but it is not the best. Every analysis I have read is that the Brewers have the best farm system. Some may disagree, I have no personal knowledge.
The Brewers could have given the Tigers a better return than the Dodgers did. They chose not to.
The Dodgers appear to be less hesitant to trade prospects than other teams, including the Brewers. I don’t think this was a money issue, I think it was the Dodgers being less risk averse.
They got Skubal as a rental. Maybe he signs with them and maybe he doesn’t. I don’t believe it is a sure thing.
Also, Skubal has had some elbow issues and had an experimental surgery for it. Will that hold up long term?
I would ask the Pirates writer what is preventing the Pirates from being the Brewers? You know, the team that wins the NLC almost every year. Is it that Milwaukee has such huge financial advantages over Pittsburgh?
The next time I hear someone complain about how the Mets are ruining baseball with their massive spending and financial advantages will be the first time. You know why no one complains? Because they DON’T WIN! It isn’t the Dodgers’ spending that irritates people it is all of their winning and if you think it is all about money then we will just have to disagree.
You remember when people used to moan about the Patriots winning the Super Bowl every year? Then it was the Chiefs winning it all of the time. I don’t recall people complaining about the huge financial advantages those two teams had. They couldn’t because the NFL has a salary cap!! You know the thing that is going to bring peace, harmony, and 10 different teams winning championships in 10 different years. Yeah right.
I agree that there should be some changes in the MLB system but the bottom line is that well ran organizations are going to succeed and poorly ran organizations are going to fail. That is life.
If MLB and the MLBPA were on the same page about a salary cap and floor and signed an agreement tomorrow implementing one I would be fine with that. I don’t think it would prevent dynasties but I would be fine with it because I think having a work stoppage is stupid. Instead Manfred and the owners are going to march head first into a buzzsaw kamikaze style. A shutdown will ruin the sport more than what the Dodgers are doing.
Most likely we will end up with an enhanced CBT with tougher penalites which is what they should be negotiating in the first place.
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