Reports Link Blue Jays to Major Trade Target

According to reports, the Toronto Blue Jays are one of the teams in the mix for the biggest trade candidate potentially on the market.

Toronto Blue Jays President & CEO Mark A. Shapiro and Executive Vice President, Baseball Operations & GM Ross Atkins | Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

Amidst a busy weekend for the Toronto Blue Jays that featured a series win, a visiting Cy Young winner getting rocked, bobblehead fun and, yes, more injury concerns, the most eyebrow-raising news may have come away from Rogers Centre.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Toronto is expected to be one of four serious bidders - alongside the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres - to be in the mix for Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal ahead of the August 3 MLB trade deadline.

Now, to be clear here, nothing is imminent. There is no guarantee yet that the Tigers will even entertain trading the two-time reigning AL Cy Young winner.

Trade speculation surrounding Skubal stems from the fact that Detroit currently sits dead last in the AL Central at 21-33 and may want to recoup some value from their star pitcher before he becomes an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

And unsurprisingly, it is some of the big guns who, as Nightengale notes, rival executives believe might emerge victorious from the Skubal sweepstakes. All four of the Blue Jays, Yankees, Dodgers and Padres already rank among the seven-highest payrolls in baseball. While they all have impressive rotations in their own right, adding the 29-year-old would probably elevate them to World Series favorites.

It's impossible to know how Toronto might stack up against some rather familiar, big-spending rivals in what remains - as far as we know - a theoretical pursuit of the currently-sidelined Skubal, but it's interesting just to see them in the mix.

What a Blue Jays' Pursuit of Skubal Might Look Like

Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal | Evan Petzold / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

It's a good thing that Aug 3 remains more than two months away, as there are way too many unknown factors for any thought of Skubal in a Blue Jays jersey to be realistic at the moment.

Of course, Skubal continues to recover from some minor, non-invasive left elbow surgery, which he underwent in early May. He has already begun throwing bullpen sessions amidst a remarkably quick recovery, but still lacks a known targeted return date.

Toronto has injury considerations of its own, with Shane Bieber and Max Scherzer sidelined and Dylan Cease awaiting MRI results after cutting short his outing on Sunday with left hamstring tightness. Despite the mounting injuries, the team's starting pitching has been a strength all season and a return to health may dampen the need for a frontline reinforcement like Skubal.

If the Blue Jays were to make a push for arguably the best pitcher in baseball, it wouldn't come cheap. Even if his injury and pending free agency dampen his value somewhat, a pitcher of Skubal's stature would likely demand a trade package of top prospects JoJo Parker, Arjun Nimmala and probably plenty more (although Toronto would surely balk at including Trey Yesavage for a possible rental).

It is a testament to the current state of the franchise that the Blue Jays are mentioned alongside the likes of the Yankees and Dodgers as serious suitors for just about any impact player to come available. And at 25-28 and showing signs of breaking through to round back into playoff contention, they likely will be in on plenty of talent in advance of the trade deadline - Skubal included - in hopes of returning to the World Series.

While Nightengale's report may not yield meaningful results anytime soon (if at all), it suggests that Toronto is prepared to operate ambitiously in pursuit of the World Series trophy they came so agonizingly close to securing in 2025. Plus, it also presents a scenario - Skubal, Cease, Kevin Gausman, Yesavage, and Bieber/Scherzer/Patrick Corbin, anyone? - That is awfully tantalizing to Blue Jays fans.