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Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman spoke publicly on Tuesday and all but confirmed the team would be in contact with the Tigers to gauge their asking price for Tarik Skubal, per the LA Times. In the same availability, Friedman addressed Shohei Ohtani‘s knee injury and the club’s broader trade deadline approach — making this the first time a top Dodgers decision-maker has gone on the record about the Skubal pursuit that reporters have been connecting dots on for weeks.

Skubal has been the most talked-about name on the trade market this summer, and for good reason. The left-hander won the American League Cy Young Award in 2024 after posting a 2.39 ERA across 228 innings for Detroit, establishing himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball. He’s under club control through 2028, which makes him a rare commodity — an ace-caliber starter who isn’t just a rental. Every contender in baseball would love to add him, but as we’ve been tracking here, multiple national reporters have pointed to the Dodgers as the most likely and most viable landing spot. Friedman publicly acknowledging the interest, even without explicitly saying “we’re making an offer,” is about as close to confirmation as you get from a front office that typically plays things tight to the vest.

The Ohtani situation continues to loom over everything. We already know he’s been shut down from pitching due to a right biceps issue on top of the knee problem that’s been lingering. Friedman addressing the knee publicly suggests the organization is being transparent about the fact that Ohtani’s return to the mound this season is genuinely uncertain. Ohtani has been contributing as a designated hitter — his bat remains elite, obviously — but losing his pitching component for an extended stretch changes the calculus for this roster. It’s precisely why adding an arm like Skubal feels less like a luxury and more like a necessity.

I think this is significant because of who’s saying it. We’ve had Jeff Passan at ESPN connecting the dots, we’ve had beat reporters laying out the logic, but Friedman stepping up and essentially tipping his hand is a different level. He’s not a guy who talks just to talk. When he signals something publicly, it usually means the wheels are already turning behind the scenes. The Tigers know the Dodgers are coming. Everyone knows.

The asking price is going to be steep — Detroit has no reason to give Skubal away with multiple years of control remaining. Our farm system has been thinned by recent trades, but we still have pieces that could make a deal work. Friedman’s willingness to engage publicly tells me he’s prepared to pay a real price. The deadline is fast approaching, and this feels like it’s moving toward a resolution one way or another. For a team missing Ohtani on the mound and needing rotation reinforcement, landing Skubal would reshape the entire October outlook.

Source(s): Staff (LA Times) | First reported: July 30, 2026 3:22 AM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers