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Fresh reporting from Jeff Passan at Bleacher Report has added a new layer to the Tarik Skubal trade speculation, with the Dodgers’ interest still in the mix and a potential contract extension now part of the conversation. This comes just days after Passan himself seemed to temper expectations about a Skubal-to-LA deal, making the re-emergence of this thread notable.

Skubal has established himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball. The left-hander won the American League Cy Young Award in 2024 after posting a 2.39 ERA, 228 strikeouts, and an 18-4 record across 192 innings for the Tigers — a season that also saw Detroit make a surprising run to the ALDS. He followed that up by continuing to pitch at an elite level, cementing his status as exactly the kind of front-line arm contending teams dream about acquiring. He’s still under team control, which is what makes both the trade rumors and the extension talk so significant. If Detroit believes they can lock him up long-term, the calculus on moving him changes entirely. If they can’t, the pressure to trade him while his value is at its peak only grows.

The extension angle is the new wrinkle here. Previously, the conversation was framed almost entirely around whether the Tigers would entertain offers — and from Passan’s earlier reporting, it sounded like Detroit wasn’t in a rush to move him. An extension would obviously take him off the market completely, which is worth tracking closely if you’re a Dodgers fan hoping the front office can land a true ace to bolster the rotation.

For the Dodgers, the interest makes all the sense in the world. Even with Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitching his way into the NL Cy Young conversation and the rest of the staff performing well, adding a pitcher of Skubal’s caliber would be a franchise-altering move. Andrew Friedman and the front office have never been shy about swinging big when the right opportunity presents itself — we saw that with the Mookie Betts trade, the Yamamoto signing, and the Blake Snell addition. Skubal would fit that mold perfectly.

I’ll say this plainly: if the Tigers are genuinely open to extending Skubal, the Dodgers’ window to acquire him could close before the deadline even arrives. This is one to monitor daily. The fact that Passan keeps circling back to it tells me there’s real substance behind the chatter, even if a deal remains far from certain.

Source(s): Jeff Passan (Bleacher Report) | First reported: June 17, 2026 6:01 AM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers