Dodgers fans need to be wary as NY radio host clarifies fraudulent Tarik Skubal report

When Tarik Skubal first came to the Los Angeles Dodgers, he said and did all the right things. From there, his performance on the mound has continued to endear him to Dodgers fans, who'd like to see him stick around for the long haul.

Before the trade went down, it was reported that the Dodgers are Skubal's first choice when it comes to his free-agent landing spot this offseason. Given the price Los Angeles has already paid to acquire him at the deadline, it would behoove the club to make him more than a rental.

However, rumors started circulating on social media that the team didn't view this as anything more than a short-term fling. An aggregator on X (formerly Twitter) with the handle @Punchoutpitch quoted New York Radio station WFAN host Evan Roberts as saying that Andrew Friedman told Dave Roberts to run the two-time Cy Young winner into the ground because he "ain't gonna be here next year."

Roberts quickly shot down the "report." Writing on in response, "The way they are using him reeks of a team not serious about keeping him. That’s not a report that’s my opinion."

For those unfamiliar with New York-area sports talk radio, Roberts is a pundit paid for his opinion, not his sources. While he may have more connections than the layman, he's not Jeff Passan. Nor is he laser-focused on baseball, either. He's a guy who takes calls from folks over 60, who yell into the phone lamenting that there's not enough bunting in modern baseball and wishing for NFL teams to establish the run more.

That's no knock on Roberts. He's paid to give an informed opinion on the game (as am I) because he has something intriguing to say. It's just important to know what his function is, and even more important to not blindly trust random aggregation accounts on social media.

This lesson in media literacy was important at the trade deadline, and it will be even more important this offseason once free agency is under way. If a rumor isn't coming directly from a trusted MLB insider like Passan, Ken Rosenthal, Robert Murray, and a handful of others, don't trust it.

The Dodgers aren't running Tarik Skubal into the ground, either

Respectfully, Roberts' take here is a little off, too. Skubal has made five starts and thrown 30 innings so far in a Dodgers uniform. That's six innings per start. Starters don't go as deep into games as they once did, but that's far from egregious.

In fact, the 29-year-old threw 96 2/3 innings with Detroit over 16 starts prior to the deadline, which works out to just a hair over six innings a start. Keep in mind, too, there was a period following his NaNoneedle procedure when they had to be careful with him. In 2025, he made 31 starts and tossed 195⅓ innings, which equals 6.29 innings each outing. If anything, Los Angeles has been conservative.

Have the leaned on Skubal to get threw some high-pressure situations with an elevated pitch count? Sure, they have. The reason isn't wanting to squeeze every last drop out of him, either. Instead, it's the simple fact that he's an ace and that's what aces do.

Add in the fact that, the Dodgers' rotation had or has been missing Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Shohei Ohtani — which was one of the prime reasons the team went out and got Skubal — and it makes sense that they'd lean a little harder on the star southpaw to save the bullpen for days when weaker starters took the hill.

No one has a crystal ball, but it seems hard to believe that the Dodgers would go through everything that they did to land Skubal if they had no intention whatsoever of bringing him back this offseason. If it does prove to be true that they indeed have no intention on bringing Skubal back, it's highly unlikely that a talk radio host 3,000 miles away will be the one breaking the story.

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