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ESPN’s Jeff Passan weighed in on the persistent speculation linking the Dodgers to Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, and his assessment was blunt, per a report covered by Heavy.com. The trade chatter around Skubal and the Dodgers has been one of the louder rumor-mill storylines this season, and Passan — one of the most connected reporters in baseball — offered a reality check on how realistic that pairing actually is.

Skubal has established himself as one of the best pitchers in the American League. The left-hander won the AL Cy Young Award in 2024 after a dominant campaign with Detroit, posting a 2.39 ERA across 31 starts with 228 strikeouts. He’s the kind of front-line arm that transforms a pitching staff, and at 29 years old, he’s right in the heart of his prime. The Tigers have him under contract, which gives Detroit enormous leverage in any trade discussions. Teams that want Skubal are going to have to pay a prospect cost that borders on outrageous, and the Tigers have no obligation to move him unless someone blows them away.

From the Dodgers’ perspective, the interest makes all the sense in the world. With Tyler Glasnow still not making real progress in his recovery from back spasms — something we covered earlier this week — the rotation has a potential hole that could become a gaping one if the situation doesn’t improve. Yoshinobu Yamamoto has been brilliant and is forcing his way into the NL Cy Young conversation, but behind him, the Dodgers could use another elite arm, especially with October in mind. That’s the context fueling every Skubal-to-LA rumor.

But wanting something and getting it are two very different things. Passan’s bluntness on this topic suggests the Dodgers face significant hurdles — whether that’s Detroit’s asking price, the prospect capital required, or the Tigers simply not being motivated sellers at this point in the season. The Dodgers’ farm system, while replenished in some areas, has already been thinned by recent moves and graduations. Putting together a package that makes Detroit say yes without gutting the organization’s future pipeline is the kind of tightrope walk that even Andrew Friedman would struggle with.

I think this is one of those situations where the Dodgers will absolutely make the call — they’d be negligent not to — but the price tag is likely to be prohibitive unless something changes with Detroit’s season or Skubal’s contractual situation. The trade deadline is still weeks away, and a lot can shift between now and then. For now, this remains firmly in the “dream scenario” category rather than anything approaching likely. We should keep our eyes on it, but nobody should be clearing a locker just yet.

Source(s): Jeff Passan (Heavy.com) | First reported: June 16, 2026 8:55 PM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers