Tarik Skubal is a dodger.

[Java]

Surprised they didn’t have to give up Sheehan. Or Eric lauer. Or Justin wrobleski.  Man they have some arms now

wonder if they still own Bobby miller.  And if he has any value

 

hopefully skubal can get them to the finish line and win their 3rd straight before his Tommy John surgery.  And yes.  It’s coming.  Then again they said the same about Yamamoto and he’s still doing well.  So far.

[Java]

Just thinking about this.  River Ryan is an elite arm.  Coming back from TJ slower than hoped or expected.   And is 27.  Little long in the tooth for a prospect.  We talk about the Dodgers being an old team because they have too many guys on the wrong side of 30?  River is not only not an established MLB pitcher, he’s hurt or recovering from it.  Ouch  By comparison, Skubal is a 2 time Cy Young winner and is 29.

Zyhir Hope is an OF prospect.  Top 25 in all of baseball.  Might be the Dodgers best prospect.  However the Dodgers have 6-7 top OF prospects and their OF of Tucker, Teo, and Pages appears locked in for another year.  Edman too.  No real room there.

 

I half expected them to trade Teo.  No chance Tucker opts out of a $60m annual salary while performing at a level I had predicted would be worth $20 mil a year, maybe up to $24.   Based on what I predicted, I would be generous.  Dude is just an average MLB players.  He’s better than Michael Conforto was, but that’s not saying much.   Conforto, BTW is batting 231 with 9 HR and 24 RBI with the Cubs   Tucker is hitting 237 with 9 HR and 54 RBI.  Making Conforto look like a bargain at $2 mil a year.  Conforto signed with LA for $17 mil on a one year deal and sucked so badly he got a 1 year MINOR league deal for $2 mil.  I assume that means he got $2 million and they had the option to send him to the minors.  I haven’t heard of too many Minor league players making $2 million

Hope was batting 293 in AA with 23 HR, 18 steals.  An OBA barely above Tuckers.   Which isn’t bad.  The key is he’s only 21.

 

Brady Smith is an A ball P with a 4.36 ERA.  3rd round draft pick.  Their 17th ranked prospect who is 21.  Not much of a give up there.

 

So looking above what we see is that LA basically gave up 21 year old Zyhir Hope.  We thought they’d have to give up Emmet Sheehan, probably Ryan Ward.  Maybe Teo.  Possibly Wrobleski.  Definitely one of their OF prospects, maybe two.  Why did Skubal come so cheap?

 

Really simple  Skubal’s agent is Scott Boras.  Boras never lets his players sign early.  They always explore free agency.  Boras and the Dodgers have a very difficult history.  LA was not going to give up the farm, so to speak.  Nor would anyone else.  For a rental.  One with a gimpy elbow to boot.  There is a chance Skubal pitches two starts for LA and goes on the IL the rest of the year.  He is absolutely on his way to Tommy John.  Maybe not this year but coming up.  When you have fragments cleaned up in your elbow?  That’s your arm telling you something.  It’s breaking down.  It’s doesn’t just heal itself.  Cleaned up is a nice word.  Those fragments were needed.  He’s now pitching with less tendon, bone, etc Tick tick tick.  And he knows it.  The fragment surgery was because he’s headed to free agency and wants the payday.  No one wants to sign a guy who just got TJ ahead of free agency.  Even if they close out the world series.  Ask Walker Buhler.

 

So LA is renting him cheap.  He wont stay.  And that’s one reason they didn’t trade away Lauer, Sheehan etc.  Lauer also will be a FA but LA could probably re-sign him since they saved his career.

 

 

[Java]

Dodgers got River Ryan when they traded Matt Beatty.  Remember him? To the padres.

they got Zyhir hope when they had to get rid of Michael Busch because he was too old as a prospect and they had Freddie freeman.

and brad smith is the single A pitcher they drafted and had the 4.6 era and had Tommy John a year or two ago

so they just gave up Michael Busch matt Beatty and a single A pitcher for skubal.

people talk about how la spends money.  But this kind of deal making.  Building assets.  Then buying low and selling high is what makes Friedman the MVP of the best team in baseball

[Author]

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