Nationals 'Have the Farm System' to Pull Off Tarik Skubal Blockbuster Trade
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The Washington Nationals have been one of the surprises of the Major League Baseball season.
With a 31-29 record, they are just one game out of the final NL Wild Card spot. They also had a winning record in May and secured the most victories they've had in a single month in almost three years.
On the flip side, the Detroit Tigers have been a massive disappointment. Coming off a season where they went 87-75 and were eliminated from the playoffs in Game 5 of the ALDS in the 15th inning, they now own a 22-38 record on June 1 that not only puts them last in the AL Central, but last in the entire sport tied with the Colorado Rockies.
Because of that, there are some rumblings that the Tigers might decide to deal their ace Tarik Skubal ahead of this year's trade deadline. And according to Jim Bowden of The Athletic (subscription required), Washington has the farm system to pull off a blockbuster if they go down that route.
Nationals Have Ammo to Land Tarik Skubal
"They do have the farm system to get a deal done, but they are still building long-term and won't be players here," Bowden wrote in his analysis of how each team stacks up for a Skubal trade.
That shouldn't be a surprise on either front. The Nationals have added plenty of young talent to their pipeline in the past year through trades and the draft. And with many of them blossoming into stars at the lower levels of the minors, they could present Detroit with perhaps the best offer out of any other team across the league.
However, like Bowden states, president of baseball operations Paul Toboni is building for the long-term future, so the chances that he goes all-in for someone like Skubal -- who is also an impending free agent after the season -- is extremely low if not zero percent.
Still, it's a tantalizing thought when it comes to the notion of Skubal leading this rotation. While Cade Cavalli has turned things around this season after a slow start, there are some questions if he can be a true No. 1 for a contending team. Skubal clearly is after winning back-to-back AL Cy Young Awards, and he would give Washington the best pitcher they've had since both Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg were on this roster.
But for the Nationals to get involved in the Skubal sweepstakes, they would have to be confident that they would be able to lock him into a long-term deal following the trade. And based on how little Mark Lerner and the ownership group have spent in recent years, it's unclear if that would be the case even with a salary floor being proposed by Major League Baseball.
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Brad Wakai graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Journalism. While an undergrad, he worked at the student radio station covering different Penn State athletic programs like football, basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports. Brad became the Lead Contributor for Nittany Lions Wire of Gannett Media where he continued to cover Penn State athletics. Currently, Brad is the Publisher for Washington Nationals On SI and covers multiple teams across the On SI network. He is the host of the sports podcast I Said What I Said, where he and his co-host discuss topics across the NFL, College Football, the NBA and other sports. You can follow him on Twitter: @bwakai