Brewers-Tarik Skubal Pipe Dream Might Be Even Less Likely Than We Thought

What do the Brewers have to consider?

Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) walks off the field for pitching change during the seventh inning against Milwaukee Brewers at Comerica Park in Detroit on Thursday, April 23, 2026. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Trading for superstar starting pitcher Tarik Skubal has felt like a far-fetched idea all along for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Though they made a big trade 18 years ago to acquire ace CC Sabathia, the Brewers haven't often shown an appetite for giving up the kind of prospect haul it would take to land the Detroit Tigers ace. On Thursday, ESPN insider Buster Olney poured a bit more cold water on the possibility by reporting that the Tigers were holding out hope of not having to sell at the trade deadline.

"Tigers are telling other teams: As of now, they're not selling," Olney wrote on X. "The sweep of the (Tampa Bay) Rays will fuel their hope of climbing back into the AL race."

No Skubal? Brewers are probably okay

Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy relieves pitcher Brandon Sproat (23) during the fifth inning of their game against the Los Angeles Dodgers Sunday, May 24, 2026 at American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Tigers climbed to 25-38 after taking three in a row from the first-place Rays. It's been a shockingly poor start to the season for Skubal's team, and as he's attempting a warp-speed return from a minor surgical procedure on his throwing elbow last month, Detroit is having to weigh the cost-benefit analysis of trading him.

This is a particularly weak year for the entire AL, which means it might take a couple less wins to get into the playoffs than usual. Even if the Tigers only needed 84 wins, however, they'd still need to play to a .621 winning percentage for the rest of the regular season.

Meanwhile, the Brewers would face stiff competition to acquire Skubal if they even chose to throw their hats in the ring. The Los Angeles Dodgers have more than enough prospect capital to get a deal done, and the New York Yankees are always a threat to pull off this sort of blockbuster when they think their championship window is open.

Could Milwaukee even get a deal done without including a Top 100 prospect in all of baseball? What if it had to be Luis Peña, who would be many teams' No. 1 prospect?

We'll continue to track whether the Brewers and Skubal make sense as the summer wears on. But as of Thursday, the odds they can actually pull off a deal here feel extremely minimal.