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The Dodgers Possibly Landing Tarik Skubal Has Me Pissed – at the Phillies
By Matt Schultz
Published:
Tarik Skubal is the big name primed to be moved ahead of the trade deadline on Monday (August 3rd), and it looks like the Dodgers are pulling away as heavy favorites to land the two-time Cy Young winner boasting a 2.79 ERA this season:
“Tarik Skubal’s gonna be traded… Teams that in particular are being cited by others as being the biggest threats, though: the Milwaukee Brewers, who have a tremendous farm system, and of course, Phil, the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are the favorites at this point.”
The knee-jerk reaction to this online seems to be along the lines of, “Of course the Dodgers are getting him, this always happens, the Dodgers get every good player alive, what else is new, etc. etc…” I agree with that in part. It’s brutal that the Dodgers are (possibly) about to land yet another star – but this feeling of defeat at the hands of LA feels slightly new, and much worse than usual. Because if the Dodgers do go out and add Skubal to a starting rotation that already has Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2.72 ERA) and Justin Wrobleski (2.88 ERA), and then Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow pitching sooner or later, it won’t be thanks to their limitless bank account. The Dodgers will land Skubal because, besides being one of the richest teams in baseball, they’re also the smartest. They scout well, they develop players as well as anyone in baseball, and somehow they keep replenishing a farm system despite picking late every year.
Tarik Skubal is a rental. His contract is up after this season, after which he’s going to go into free agency aiming to become the highest-paid pitcher in MLB history – but that has nothing to do with right now. The Dodgers being rich as hell is beside the point. The Dodgers have four major-league ready outfielders in their system right now; that’s why they’re (possibly) getting Skubal – who they don’t even really need all that much. The Dodgers have enough assets in their war chest to trade for him just so Milwaukee can’t, and make their path to becoming the first-ever NL team to three-peat as World Series champs slightly easier.
As a Phillies fan… that feels very bad… Especially because you can’t even really be mad about that. I can’t, at least. It’s easy to get mad at LA for outspending everyone. That’s some bullshit. That’s unfair. To take issue with that feels morally correct. Righteous, even… But building a farm system is an even playing field. The Phillies are able to do that. The Phils can scout. The Phils can develop. Nothing’s stopping them… except their own incompetence. And that has me pissed off…
It’s a problem that gets buried sometimes when we talk about Dave Dombrowski’s roster construction. Speaking for myself, I know I’m usually pointing at his shitty free agent signings or the signings he didn’t make when talking about how bad he is at his job. But the Phillies’ lack of prospects is also extremely bad. MLB Pipeline has the Phillies ranked as the 20th farm system in baseball, so in moments like right now – coming up on a trade deadline and in need of a back-end starter, a right-handed bat in the outfield or at first base, some help in the bullpen, etc. etc. – they’re not positioned to do anything meaningful. Which is unacceptable…
I never thought the Phils were getting Skubal. I don’t think it would’ve been a good use of the Phillies’ limited assets anyway. But I do think it’s fair for Phils fans to be pissed about him (probably) going to the Dodgers. Not at the Dodgers, and not in a salty “should’ve been us” way. We should be pissed at the Phillies for not being positioned to do something similar.
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com