Tarik Skubal doesn't 'sympathize' with those blaming Dodgers for ruining baseball after trading for him
Tarik Skubal doesn’t think the Los Angeles Dodgers are ruining baseball. Not even close.
“Every team could trade for me, every team could make that acquisition,” Skubal said on Monday, via the California Post, just days after the Dodgers made the blockbuster deal to grab the two-time Cy Young winner from the Detroit Tigers. In return, the Tigers received three future prospects.
Skubal has spent the past nine seasons with the Tigers organization. He’s looked back to peak form quickly this year, too, after undergoing surgery earlier this year to remove “loose bodies” in his elbow. He posted a 2.03 ERA in fine starts in July while striking out 41 batters.
Now, the Dodgers will be the first team in MLB history to have a reigning two-time MVP, in Shohei Ohtani, and a reigning two-time Cy Young Award winner appear for them in the same season.
That alone is enough to leave fans of other teams frustrated. But when looking at the other major moves that the Dodgers have made in recent years — including signing Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Kyle Tucker and others — it’s easy to see why some may criticize the organization, and the league itself for allowing teams to spend the way the Dodgers do. The Dodgers are one of just two teams spending more than $300 million during the 2026 campaign. By comparison, there are six teams who aren’t even at $100 million.
And, the Dodgers already had one of the best rotations in Major League Baseball. President Andre Friedman even said on Sunday that this wasn’t “an acute need” for the team at the deadline.
But, at least in Skubal’s eyes, it’s not the Dodgers’ spending that’s led them to back-to-back World Series wins. He’s not buying that argument. Instead, it’s everything else they’ve done.
“I don’t really sympathize with people that blame the Dodgers for anything they’ve done,” he said. “They’ve developed a really good organization. They draft well. They acquire talent really well. They retain talent. It’s a winning organization. Now the complaints seem to be [happening] because they’ve won the last two World Series. I don’t think it was like that three years ago. So I don’t really sympathize with people that are complaining. Because the Dodgers do all the right things.”
Skubal’s comments echoed what Friedman said on Sunday when asked if the team was bad for baseball.
“Passionately disagree,” he said.
Skubal is set to make his debut with the Dodgers on Tuesday night against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Skubal will hit free agency after this season, too, and is expected to land a deal well into nine figures. The Dodgers, especially depending on how the next few months go, are sure to be in the running to keep him around long-term.
But Skubal isn’t ready to deal with that yet, either.
“I’m really not gonna talk about the business side of what’s happening with me,” he said. “Obviously, I understand free agency. But I’d really like the message to be just, I’m excited to be here and learn everything about the Dodgers and all these guys here. You know, develop relationships and win as many baseball games as I can.”
