Tarik Skubal chase heats up as another common Dodgers enemy (not Mets) enters the fold

The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets being thought of as the heavy favorites to land Tarik Skubal in free agency hasn't deterred other teams from throwing their hats into the ring. As Scott Boras was holding court at GM Meetings on Wednesday, he stopped to silence his phone and quipped to the room, "Just another owner begging me to meet with Skubal."

Ken Rosenthal reported Wednesday that the San Diego Padres had a meeting set with him, and Jon Heyman followed to add the Toronto Blue Jays to the mix.

The Blue Jays are a very familiar foe for LA when it comes to free agency, having sort of become baseball's new San Francisco Giants when it comes to their failure to attract stars. Shohei Ohtani wasn't on that plane to Toronto, Roki Sasaki followed his countrymen to LA, and Kyle Tucker took the higher AAV.

However, the Blue Jays might actually be able to offer something that the Dodgers are unwilling to. LA is reportedly interested in bringing Skubal back on a short-term, high-AAV contract, which Skubal may be unwilling to accept.

If Toronto can offer him a contract similar to the one they dangled in front of Tucker (10 years, $350 million), it could be more attractive than whatever the Dodgers might feel more comfortable offering.

Blue Jays reportedly have a meeting set with Tarik Skubal as Dodgers continue to fade

The Dodgers seem to be taking a kind of laissez-faire attitude to this whole process, but they can fill the rotation without Skubal, and they don't need to make the same pitch to him when he already knows how things work in LA.

Although Andrew Friedman has confirmed that conversations are being had, it doesn't seem that they're approaching things as aggressively as other suitors (namely the Mets). In other words, they're doing what they do best: "hanging around the backboard."

The Blue Jays have picked up a few free agent wins over the last few years, even though their biggest swings were misses. Cy Young finalist Dylan Cease and top Japanese free agent Kazuma Okamoto both joined last offseason.

Tempting Skubal away from the Dodgers would be the perfect way for Toronto to reclaim some of their pride and to reestablish that they're a destination. LA's apparent lack of desperation to get him back could give their former World Series foe a leg up in these discussions.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow