The Detroit Tigers might have the best record in baseball right now, but that's not stopping the Los Angeles Dodgers from actively recruiting Detroit's best pitcher, Tarik Skubal, to Hollywood. I mean, just look at what Will Smith had to say about Skubal.
"As the catcher, you want to catch all the best names," Smith said Monday, July 14, one day before the All-Star Game. "As the Dodgers, we want to win the World Series, and that means getting the best players each and every year."
Smith is spot-on here. Every catcher wants to catch elite pitching — it makes their job easier! As for what he said about the Dodgers, well, is he wrong? Even after winning the World Series, the Dodgers signed Roki Sasaki, Blake Snell, Kirby Yates, Tanner Scott and Teoscar Hernandez in one offseason.
Skubal is not a free agent until after the 2026 campaign, but that's not stopping the Dodgers' All-Star catcher from pretty clearly recruiting him to Los Angeles. As much as MLB fans don't want to see arguably the best pitcher on the planet end up on the super team that is the Dodgers, even Skubal knows that Los Angeles makes a lot of sense for superstars.
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Tarik Skubal previously outlined why the Dodgers could make sense for him
"Skubal has praised the Dodgers before, when he was asked about the free-agent market in February 2025: "You see with the Dodgers, right? A lot of guys want to go play there because they have a great organization, and they know they're going to win, and they're going to have a ton of success, and they're paid pretty well to go there and play. Those are big goals as a player. You want to win, and then you want to get paid for your services. That's the goal in baseball."
Again, MLB fans don't want to see this, but is Skubal not spot on? The Dodgers win every year, and consistently operate with one of the highest payrolls in the sport. Do players not want to make a lot of money and play for a consistent winner? Why wouldn't stars want to go to Los Angeles?
Smith knows how attractive the Dodgers are. He, himself, made a choice to sign a massive extension to remain with L.A., potentially for the remainder of his career. Why shouldn't he make it clear that he'd love to play with Skubal one day, especially when he knows that the Dodgers could realistically make it happen?
Tigers might be only team that can prevent what feels like the inevitable
At this point, all eyes are on the Tigers. Yes, they're a team clearly in win-now mode, so trading Skubal in 2025 isn't an option, but he's a free agent after next season, and his agent is Scott Boras. An extension feels unlikely, making it hard to justify holding onto him, considering the risk of losing him for nothing. But again, they're a team trying to win now.
What the Tigers should do is simply hand a blank check to Skubal and make him name his price for what it'd take to keep him around. If they're willing to do the deal, do it. If not, it feels like it might be a matter of time until Skubal is a Dodger, especially if the players seem eager to want him.