Dodgers GM Provides First Update on Tarik Skubal Pursuit in Free Agency

The Los Angeles Dodgers have already been in contact with free agent Tarik Skubal's camp this offseason, general manager Brandon Gomes told reporters on Tuesday from the league's general manager meetings in Las Vegas.

Brandon Gomes said the Dodgers have been in contact with Tarik Skubal’s camp, and they expect to meet at some point.
— Maddie Lee (@maddie_m_lee) November 10, 2026

This comes as no surprise, as Skubal is by far the best free agent on the market. Gomes also said the team expects to formally meet with Skubal "at some point," but didn't have specifics regarding that potential meeting.

On Tuesday, the New York Post's Jon Heyman reported that Skubal had a meeting scheduled with the New York Mets. The meeting will be held in California "sometime next week."

The timing of Skubal's free agency is especially important with an impending lockout on Dec. 1. It's widely expected that Skubal will look to sign before the lockout, thus maximizing his potential earnings before potential payroll restrictions are instituted.

The Dodgers and Mets are the early favorites in the Skubal sweepstakes due to their track record of spending big in free agency. On Monday, it was reported that the San Diego Padres had already expressed interest in Skubal, too.

The Dodgers have been rather mum to this point regarding their interest level in Skubal. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman praised Skubal at his end-of-season presser when asked about the left-hander, but didn't discuss any specifics about his free agency.

“It’s not easy for a guy to get traded in the middle of a season to come to a new city, new clubhouse,” Friedman said. “The way he was able to seamlessly transition, not just in terms of on the field, but in the clubhouse, I can’t say enough good things about the impact that he made in such a short period of time.”

He added: “He’s put himself in this position to go out and be a free agent. And for us, it’s [to] continue to talk to Scott [Boras, his agent]. But he and his family have to make a choice over where they want to spend the next X number of years, and obviously we wish him nothing but the best.”

The Dodgers traded three prospects to acquire Skubal before the deadline. In 10 regular-season starts with LA, he went 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA and 70 strikeouts over 62 innings. In two postseason starts, he had a 2.45 ERA and 14 strikeouts over 11 innings.

Skubal is expected to set the record for the richest contract in MLB history, surpassing Yoshinobu Yamamoto's 12-year, $325 million deal with LA.

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