The Detroit Tigers enter play on Thursday trailing by 4 1/2 games in the wild card race, and insiders are now expecting them to start shopping Tarik Skubal to interested teams.
Have we seen the last of Tarik Skubal in a Tigers uniform? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/bcHpyT5q72
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 30, 2026
The Rays are leading the American League currently, and adding Skubal could set them up for a World Series run. It is not the type of move they typically make, but Skubal is not the kind of player that just pops up on the trade block often. He is only a rental, so the Rays do not have to worry about picking up a giant salary for years to come. They just have to come to terms with trading prospects.
Some teams involved in the Skubal race will be more hesitant to trade prospects, knowing the constraints of their market. If history is an indicator, the Rays and Milwaukee Brewers will be far more stingy than the Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers when making offers for Skubal. However, for a player of Skubal's caliber, they may be willing to make some exceptions.
However, even those exceptions are expected to have limits for the Rays. Their top prospect may be off limits.
"That said, if a trade requires Theo Gillen -- the dynamic center fielder who at 20 looks as if he more than belongs in Double-A -- Skubal is unlikely to be a Ray," wrote ESPN's Jeff Passan on Thursday. "Tampa Bay isn't fundamentally opposed to trading Gillen, but doing so for a player who will be there for months as opposed to years is where aggressiveness turns into recklessness."
Gillen is the No. 9 prospect in baseball, and the Rays are not going to part ways with him fr a rental. It's safe to assume the Milwaukee Brewers will not part with Jesús Made either. However, the Dodgers, whose top prospect is outfielder Josue De Paula, know they have Kyle Tucker and Andy Pages in the big leagues for the next few years, and also have four other outfielders on MLB Pipeline's Top 100. They may be willing to part with their top prospect.