Padres' Walker Buehler Declines to Answer Question About Dodgers Acquiring Tarik Skubal

The Dodgers just put the Padres in an uncomfortable position.

Jul 11, 2026; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher Walker Buehler (10) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: David Frerker-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Los Angeles Dodgers' 8.5-game lead in the National League West has left their rivals in an uncomfortable position. The Arizona Diamondbacks are their closest competition. The San Diego Padres are 9.5 games behind.

With those two teams left to fight for wild-card scraps, the Dodgers traded for the best pitcher in the American League.

On Saturday night, the Dodgers acquired reigning two-time Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal. In return, the Dodgers sent three prospects — outfielder Zyhir Hope and right-handed pitchers River Ryan and Brady Smith — to Detroit.

Word spread quickly, with players on West Coast teams forced to answer questions about the blockbuster trade Saturday night or Sunday morning.

Some players spoke more volumes with what they didn't say than what they did.

"Both [San Diego Padres pitcher] Walker Buehler and [Padres second baseman Jake] Cronenworth smiled wide and walked away when asked if they had heard the Dodgers had acquired a new starting pitcher," Kevin Acee reported in the San Diego Union-Tribune on Saturday night.

Cronenworth later told Acee: "Does it make their team even better? Yeah. But they have every right to do it. Every other team had the opportunity to do it.”

Did they?

The day-after analysis of the Dodgers' trade had everyone from former Diamondbacks pitcher Brad Ziegler to columnists for the Los Angeles Times questioning why small-market teams didn't do more to capitalize on the sudden availability of Skubal, a pending free agent.

This is what people don’t understand. Skubal being on the Dodgers roster right now gives him an opportunity to sign an extension before the end of the season…thus, potentially grandfathering his new contract into any future CBA. If he was on another team’s roster, there’s at…

— Brad Ziegler (@BradZiegler) August 2, 2026

If Buehler had some of those same questions, he kept them to himself. The former Vanderbilt standout is known as a curious student of the game, both from an on-field competition standpoint and the business side.

Having (sorta) slept and having (sorta) thought more on it, I will fully acknowledge that the Dodgers can afford a higher risk tolerance when making huge trades and therefore their massive revenue advantage still comes into play even though it's a trade. (1/2)

— Jon Becker (@jonbecker_) August 2, 2026

As Fangraphs' Jon Becker pointed out, the Dodgers' risk tolerance exceeds that of other teams by virtue of their top-tier payroll. In other words, the Dodgers' ability to win the World Series in 2026 and beyond is less compromised if Skubal gets hurt, signs elsewhere in free agency, or simply doesn't perform well in Dodger blue, compared to the Tampa Bay Rays or Milwaukee Brewers.

Buehler knows the Dodgers' financial picture better than most. He spent the first seven seasons of his career in Los Angeles, picking president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman's brain often along the way.

There's no telling if the Padres got anywhere in discussions to acquire Skubal, or even placed a call to Detroit in the first place. Either way, "stunned silence" was a perfectly appropriate reaction for anyone upset with the rich getting richer.

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