Angels insider's wild idea to land Tarik Skubal with the Dodgers just might make sense

What the Los Angeles Dodgers do at the trade deadline is very much up for debate despite August 3 looming right around the corner. For much of the season, that date has been circled as the day the Dodgers land the biggest fish around in Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal. Only one problem: as the Tigers have clawed back into the AL playoff picture, they might not be willing to trade Skubal.

There have been conflicting reports as to what Los Angeles truly wants to do at the deadline as well. If anything, Shohei Ohtani's retreat from pitching has upped the ante to go get a top-tier starter, but how do they convince the Tigers to part with Skubal if they're still trying to compete? The answer is with a little creativity and some help from an unlikely source: the Los Angeles Angels.

Angels beat writer Jeff Fletcher of the OC Register might have just been playing out a thought exercise when he spitballed a trade idea involving Detroit and both Los Angeles teams in a Twitter/X post, but there's some merit to the idea.

In Fletcher's proposal, the three teams would link up to send either Reid Detmers or Jose Soriano to the Tigers, Skubal to the Dodgers, and three or four top Dodgers prospects to the Angels. Adding further color, two prospect names he suggested that could be shipped to Anaheim are Josue De Paula and Mike Sirota.

Angels insider's three-team trade proposal to send Tigers' ace Tarik Skubal to the Dodgers is crazy enough to work

Going for Skubal to Soriano or Detmers might seem like a tremendous downgrade, but it isn't quite as drastic as it might seem. Detmers is probably the more attractive option, despite Soriano's fantastic start, because he's been more consistent this season, so we'll use him for this example.

Detmers has a 4.16 ERA versus a 2.83 mark for Skubal, but there's more to the story. When you consider the underlying metrics, the two are closer than they appear. Both are high strikeout southpaws who limit walks, which is a solid foundation. Detmers has a 3.27 xERA, in part due to his strong strikeout and walk numbers, which isn't all that far off the 3.06 xERA Skubal has posted to date.

Moreover, Detmers makes just $2.63 million this year and has two additional years of team control beyond 2026. That means a few things. Even with arbitration raises, he'll be much more affordable, and acquiring him still keeps the Tigers in the race while ensuring that they don't lose Skubal in the offseason for nothing.

Bottom line, one can argue that with Detmers in place of paying a record-setting contract for Skubal, Detroit will have extra funds to build out a more well-rounded contender in 2027. With Casey Mize and Jack Flaherty also hitting free agency, that matters a lot. There are even folks who believe that Detmers carries more trade value than Skubal due to that control and affordability.

For the Dodgers, this could be better than a straight-up deal for Skubal as well. While it might be true that Detmers holds more value than Skubal in a theoretical sense, if Detroit is hell-bent on contending, then the only value that matters is what it would take to convince them to wave the white flag on the 2026 campaign. Now that the prospect haul would be for Detmers and not Skubal, the Dodgers might actually save a bit.

Finally, for the Angels, it's a clear-cut win. They need a total teardown, and moving Detmers while getting some of the Dodgers' top prospects back not only accomplishes the goal of infusing young talent into the organization, but they also get local bragging rights for the haul they'd receive.

Three-team trades are tricky, and there's little chance this even gets discussed by these clubs, much less comes to fruition. With that said, the logic is there for it to work out well for all sides. If you're Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers, you can't leave any stone unturned.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow