The Detroit Tigers have a difficult decision to make this offseason: either start hearing trade offers for Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, or just let him walk next season.
For Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller, the former option is better. He came up with a wild trade that would move Skubal to the Tigers’ division rival, the Minnesota Twins. The trade would look like this:
Twins get: LHP Tarik Skubal
Tigers get: OF Walker Jenkins, LHP Kendry Rojas and LHP Connor Prielipp
“The Tigers are going to want the world for him, but teams simply aren't likely to part with a platter of top prospects for one year of an ace with an estimated price tag of around $20 million.Wouldn't it be something, though, if the Twins gave up the Nos. 1, 5 and 9 prospects in their MLB.com pipeline in pursuit of what would be their first ALCS appearance in 24 years?” Miller wrote.
Miller also noted that if Skubal wins his second Cy Young, this would be the second time in MLB history that a back-to-back Cy Young winner was traded to a division rival, with the first being Roger Clemens, who was traded from the Toronto Blue Jays to the New York Yankees in 1998.
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If the Twins got Skubal, they could have a rotation of him, Joe Ryan, Pablo Lopez, Bailey Ober, and Taj Bradley. This would arguably be the best rotation in baseball and could help the Twins get over the hump if they sign one star along with trading for Skubal.
As for the Tigers, they would get three of the best prospects in the Twins’ system, all on the same timeline. While this trade might not happen, the Tigers should at least look into it.
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