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Dave Roberts went a step further than his earlier quip about the league’s reaction to a potential Tarik Skubal deal. Speaking with media, Roberts said the Dodgers “have the prospect capital” to pull off a trade for the back-to-back American League Cy Young winner, per Dodger Blue staff. That’s not a commitment — but it’s the manager publicly acknowledging the front office could realistically make this happen.

Skubal has been the most dominant pitcher in the American League over the last two seasons. He won his first Cy Young in 2024 after posting a 2.39 ERA with 228 strikeouts across 192 innings for the Tigers, then followed it up by winning the award again in 2025. He’s a left-hander with elite stuff — a fastball that sits mid-90s with carry, a wipeout slider, and a changeup that neutralizes right-handed bats. At 29, he’s in his prime and under contract, which is exactly why Detroit can command a king’s ransom for him. He’s the kind of arm that changes a rotation overnight, and every contender in baseball knows it.

Roberts’ comments matter because of who signs the checks. Andrew Friedman’s front office has a long track record of aggressive, high-profile deadline deals — the Manny Machado rental in 2018, the Yu Darvish acquisition in 2017, and more recently the kind of blockbuster moves that have kept the Dodgers at the top of the NL. The Dodgers’ farm system has been restocked in recent years, and Roberts publicly vouching for the organizational depth signals that internal conversations about Skubal are real, not hypothetical.

I want to be clear: this is still firmly in rumor territory. No deal is close, and the Tigers aren’t going to give Skubal away. Detroit will want top-tier prospects — likely multiple names from the upper levels of our system — and there’s no guarantee the Dodgers will be willing to pay the final price. But Roberts doesn’t typically freelance on stuff like this. When the manager is openly saying the club has the assets, it usually means the front office has at least mapped out what a package could look like.

For the Dodgers, adding Skubal would be a statement move. Our rotation has depth, but a true ace — a lefty with two Cy Youngs on the shelf — would change the calculus in October. This is one to keep following closely as we get deeper into June and the trade market starts to take shape.

Source(s): Staff (Dodger Blue) | First reported: June 4, 2026 3:21 PM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers