Tarik Skubal will make his Los Angeles Dodgers playoff debut against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday afternoon, but could he be one-and-done in Southern California? Speculation continues to mount regarding his impending free agency, and the two-time AL Cy Young winner is poised to cash in.
The Wild Card Series’ conclusion has raised additional questions about Seiya Suzuki, Kyle Schwarber, and Bryce Harper, among others. Who could be on the move when the offseason officially kicks off next month?
Here are the latest MLB rumors ahead of the Division Series.
Early Tarik Skubal suitors include Dodgers, Mets and Tigers return
We’ll start with Skubal, who went 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA after joining the Dodgers in August. The sense around baseball has long been that the usual suspects — specifically the Dodgers, Yankees, and Mets — will prioritize Skubal this coming offseason, especially after the Tigers didn’t offer him an extension.
ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel spoke with nearly 30 “industry insiders,” the majority of whom expect the Dodgers and Mets to be “serious bidders.” Interestingly, the Tigers also cracked the top three, though they’re considered to be “on the periphery.”
We typically don’t see a team trade a player only to re-sign them to a massive contract several months later, but it has happened. The Yankees famously did it with Aroldis Chapman in 2016, sending him to the Cubs for multiple prospects, including future All-Star second baseman Gleyber Torres. After helping the North Siders end their 108-year championship drought, Chapman returned to the Yankees on a five-year, $86 million deal.
The Yankees placed behind those three in total mentions, and McDaniel also listed the Angels, White Sox, and Padres as sleepers.
Seiya Suzuki may have taken his final at-bat with the Chicago Cubs
Pete Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman get all the attention, but Suzuki has quietly been one of the Cubs’ more reliable players since arriving stateside in 2022. There’s always a need for someone who averages 27 home runs, 92 RBIs, and an .823 OPS, and the 32-year-old outfielder has positioned himself to get paid again.
The Athletic reported the Cubs are “unlikely” to enter a potential bidding war for Suzuki, who had a career-high 5.1 bWAR in nearly 650 plate appearances. He signed a five-year, $85 million contract when he left Japan, and there’s no reason to think he won’t earn a deal in the same range.
Major changes could be coming for Dave Dombrowski and the Philadelphia Phillies
We discussed some of these on Friday, but The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Matt Gelb shared a significant amount of Phillies-related news following their Wild Card Round loss to Atlanta:
- Gelb reported the Phillies are likely to extend lead baseball executive Dave Dombrowski, whose contract expires after next season. Dombrowski, who turned 70 in July, has been in Philadelphia since December 2020.
- Rosenthal predicted that veteran shortstop Trea Turner will move to center field, assuming he is not traded. The two-time batting champion has not played the outfield since 2016, when he was still with the Nationals.
- Could the days of Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber mashing homers together be numbered? Rosenthal argued that ownership should consider trading either slugger for salary relief and to boost their farm system.
As of Saturday afternoon, the Phillies had not announced whether interim manager Don Mattingly would return. Longtime Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who was fired this past April, has long been linked to the Phillies job because of his connection to Dombrowski; the two overlapped in Boston and won the 2018 World Series together.
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