Jeff Passan's insistence of Dodgers-Tarik Skubal trade is misguided for many reasons

The Los Angeles Dodgers-Tarik Skubal rumors have become one of those trade deadline ideas that refuses to go away, mostly because it makes too much sense from LA’s side and not nearly enough sense from Detroit’s.

Jeff Passan’s latest trade deadline column for ESPN framed Skubal as both the “best match” and “dream fit” for the Dodgers, and on paper, sure. Every contender in baseball would love to add Skubal. The Dodgers, already operating from a different financial and competitive universe than most teams, would become even more terrifying with him joining Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Blake Snell in October.

But “the Dodgers would be scary with Skubal” isn't the same thing as “the Tigers should trade Skubal to the Dodgers.” That distinction matters, because Detroit’s situation has changed.

Tigers have newfound leverage in potential Tarik Skubal trade talks with Dodgers

The Tigers happen to be surging at exactly the moment that was supposed to determine whether they sold or held firm. Detroit has won seven of its last 10 games while playing some of its best baseball of the season.

That doesn't make Detroit a finished product, but it makes a Skubal trade harder to justify by the day. The Tigers are still within striking distance in a soft American League playoff race, and the AL Central hasn't exactly been a powerhouse. If there was ever a year to believe a flawed team with a true ace could sneak into October and become dangerous, this is it.

Skubal himself seems to understand that. Earlier this summer, he warned that the Tigers needed to “play better baseball or else” the front office would have reason to reassess at the deadline. Now that Detroit has responded, Skubal has shifted the tone. He recently said he hopes the Tigers’ decision-makers see “a very good team” and that the deadline should be about adding, not selling.

Trading Skubal wouldn't just be a baseball decision for the Tigers. It would be a franchise statement. It would tell the clubhouse that even when the team fights back into the race, even when its ace publicly pushes for belief, even when the path in the American League remains open, the front office is still more interested in future value than present opportunity.

The Dodgers have the prospects. They have the money. They have the motivation. None of that is in dispute. But Detroit has leverage, too. The Tigers have the best player on the market, a fan base desperate for the organization to act like a contender, and a roster that has given the front office less reason to sell than it had a few weeks ago.

Skubal may be the dream fit for Los Angeles, but that doesn't mean Detroit is suddenly obligated to make the Dodgers’ perfect deadline fantasy come true.