With the Cleveland Guardians now having lost four in a row thanks to another offensive no-show on Saturday against the Tampa Bay Rays, pressure is starting to mount. The trade deadline is days away and with a third consecutive AL Central crown well within reach, the Guardians need to make something happen ahead of August 3rd to help chase down the Chicago White Sox.
The obvious area of need is on offense where a big bat either at first base or in the outfield would add a lot to this lineup, but sometimes it’s fun to fantasize about aiming a bit higher, such as prying the reigning back-to-back Cy Young winner away from your division rival.
During a recent episode of Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show, Jason Lloyd touched on what Tarik Skubal could do for the Guardians. He painted the picture of what a playoff run could look like with Skubal atop the rotation and said it would give the Guardians arguably the best rotation in the AL.
“When you put him in front of Gavin Williams and now Gavin Williams is your No. 2 starter and (Parker) Messick starts Game 3, I would put that rotation up against almost anybody in the American League,” said Lloyd.
The rotation isn’t Cleveland’s biggest need, but if you have an opportunity to get someone like Skubal, you have to at least explore it. It remains to be seen if it’s realistic at all, but hopefully the Guardians at least make the call and start being aggressive heading into the deadline.
That being said, it’s almost unfathomable to think the Guardians would empty the farm for Skubal. The Detroit Tigers are also only 3.5 games behind the Guardians in the AL Central standings, so it’s tough to envision them trading their centerpiece to a division rival.
Skubal would be a rental for the Guardians and they definitely wouldn’t pay to keep him in the offseason. Unless Cleveland wins a World Series with him, it would be severely damaging long-term to ship off a ton of young talent for a few months of Skubal.
It’s fun to dream. Skubal would put this rotation over the top, but the likelihood of the Tigers trading him has dwindled since the team has begun playing better. The chances of him getting traded to arguably Detroit’s biggest rival are even smaller, but crazier things have happened.
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