Guardians fans celebrating onslaught of Tarik Skubal trade rumors as Tigers spiral

Trade rumor season is here. And, for the first time since 2024, Guardians fans can enjoy it.

While Cleveland was a mainstay in trade rumors last year, most of it centered around whether they were going to trade Shane Bieber or Steven Kwan. In the end, the Guardians ended up trading Bieber, holding onto Kwan and losing Emmanuel Clase to paid leave.

It was quite a busy deadline.

This year, that theme could play out a couple hours north in Detroit, as the Tigers are tied with the Angels for the worst record in the American League at 23-38 and have been without ace Tarik Skubal for the past month as he recovers from surgery due to loose bodies in his elbow.

That injury hasn’t put a damper on Skubal’s trade rumors, however.

We got another example of that on Monday when former MLB general manager Jim Bowden published a story in The Athletic highlighting seven potential landing spots for Skubal, where he listed all the teams you’d expect.

Tarik Skubal could be traded out of the AL Central at this year's deadline

Bowden’s list of potential Skubal suitors is as follows:

Dodgers
Rays
Cubs
Yankees
Padres
Diamondbacks
Blue Jays

An interesting list, to say the least.

The Dodgers being at the top of the list shouldn’t be a surprise given they’re a perennial contender who don’t shy away from spending money. Skubal’s earning a record $32 million this year via arbitration, and the Dodgers have been lurking in the background ever since that salary was announced.

Even if that would be a case of the rich getting richer, it would get him out of the American League.

The Rays being second is interesting to say the least. Tampa Bay is up to their usual small-market tricks (as are the Guardians), and adding Skubal to their roster would be a major shake-up.

The Yankees and Blue Jays being the other American League teams shouldn’t come as a surprise either given they’ve both proven they’re willing to spend for top-tier talent and also have the prospect depth needed to acquire Skubal.

The Blue Jays are also an interesting team considering they acquired Biber from the Guardians at last year’s deadline, but he has yet to pitch this season due to right elbow inflammation.

While the thought of the Tigers trading Skubal should put a smile on every Guardians fan’s face considering how well he’s pitched against Cleveland throughout his career, it’s still a bit bittersweet since he’d be making a good team better.

As mentioned above, the Tigers’ season is already circling the drain, and it seems like they’re not going to be much of a factor in the American League Central. But he’d immediately make any of the seven teams listed above into true contenders.

That’s obviously less of a big deal if he ends up in the National League, but the AL seems to also have plenty of teams willing to drop everything and trade for Skubal.

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Tarik Skubal could be traded out of the AL Central at this year's deadline

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