Out At Home: Tigers Accept Reality, Dodgers Get The Benefit
And the winner of the Tarik Skubal sweepstakes is?… The Los Angeles Dodgers. Talk about your “what colour is that green light?” obvious conclusion. The two-time World Series champs (we hear they beat some team from Toronto in last year’s Series) have seemingly become baseball’s answer to Love Island, attracting free agents and trading for superstars while the rest of MLB stands helplessly by. If you’ve ever played poker and faced a large stack with your short stack you know how this feels. There’s no doubt who's the big dog.
Saturday night’s trade of the two-time Cy Young Award from Detroit in exchange for three prospects is no doubt going to set off the parity argument just as MLB is poised to lock out the players of the 2027 season. It’s already started online with the Dodgers as the Dr. Evil of baseball, threatening to blow up the sport with their rapacious acquisition of talent.
Phillies star Bryce Harper doesn’t like the Tigers’ new prospects. “The Tigers made a terrible trade. Zyhir Hope is just another Raul Mondesi/Yasiel Puig player. He wasn’t even in their top 3 rookie outfielders like De Paula, Tibbs and Sirota. And, River Ryan and Brady Smith have already both had Tommy John surgeries in their young careers.”
Here’s former Montreal Expo John Vander Wal, now a Tiger fan.“You had the best pitcher in baseball, and instead of building around him, you traded him. That’s baseball malpractice. Chris Ilitch is one of the wealthiest owners in baseball. If you’re not willing to spend to keep the best pitcher in the game and build around a team that’s already proven it can compete, then sell the team to someone who will.”
On the surface that’s a predictable rant. But re-signing a rental Tarik Skubal as a free again in the offseason will not be a joy. And Detroit reportedly got the best haul ever of prospects for a rental player. Still, the Dodgers can use their $32 billion local broadcast package to gamble on talent. (For example they owe Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani $700 million in deferred money.) An organization that does it the way Branch Rickey did it in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.
But look beneath the surface of this trade and others the Dodgers have made. They are the gold standard in attracting and developing talent. Two of the prospects going to Detroit are players the Dodgers acquired in minor-league trades. The two other team reputed to be in on Skubal— AL leading Tampa Bay and NL leading Milwaukee— said money was not an object. Tiger fans loved their potential return. They had every chance to make the deal. But they demurred.
The Dodgers’ big preseason free-agent signing Kyle Tucker took less money in L.A. rather than go to Toronto. Consider, too, that California’s crushing taxes subtract millions from a player’s cheque. Finally, the now-invincible Dodgers filled for bankruptcy 15 yers ago.
It’s nothing new. In January we pointed out https://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2026/1/18/zwadgsjschsflq9nqgf2fbfpeixfg7“George Steinbrenner’s New York Yankees teams were prime examples of spending to the hilt from 1980-2010. They used their advantage in scouting and cable TV to underwrite high-profile free agents and manage lopsided trades for stars. They were soon followed by a like-minded group of other large markets.”
Like the Dodgers. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic put his finger on the contradictions. “Skubal to the Dodgers was not fait accompli, nor should it have been. Other contenders had big-time prospects to offer. Every team could afford the remaining $9.4 million on Skubal’s contract. How is that the Dodgers again were the ones to step up? How is it they so often pull off these kinds of moves, even when money is not the deciding factor?
They also possess a singular quality that most other teams do not, a fearlessness that could help them become the first team to win three straight World Series since the 1998 to 2000 Yankees."
None of this will matter to fans who worship the alleged parity brought on by a salary cap in the NHL, NBA and NFL. They see a cap as a lifeline for small to mid-markets getting a title. They see baseball --m which has no cap--as a cliff that would push little guys over. We dealt with the evolution of this fan’s mindset in our book Cap In Hand: How salary caps are killing pro sports.
But the veneration of caps misses their real attraction to big league owners. Yes, they eliminate holdouts. Share some talent. But the expansion factor is the real payoff. If a free market like England’s Premiership (20 teams) existed there would be a finite number of MLB markets who could realistically compete with the Dodgers. Ryan Reynolds alone won’t cut it. But salary caps suddenly create a whole new segment of otherwise weak markets that can now be fleeced for an expansion fee and where they can market their merchandise and digital product.
And they're the driver that has sent Dodgers team equity to $5.45 B. As we wrote in January “self-serving owners want to bloat their leagues to 32 (MLB) or even 36 (NHL) teams to capture the domestic and global marketing opportunities afforded by more teams. Their least concern is for fans who want to see the best but are fed watered-down competition.
That’s why the 2027 MLB labour stoppage could go as long as two seasons should players stay together. (Two years was what former NHLPA director Bob Goodenow estimated in 2004 before his members turtled.) As strong as the MLBPA has been it’s hard to see global superstars like Ohtani and Juan Soto (and Skubal) putting on the hair shirt for long with hundreds of millions at stake for them. They do not emerge from the culture of union loyalty Marvin Miller created 60 years earlier.”
Yes, it could get bloody. Tarik Skubal may not get the GDP of Slovakia after it’s all over. What will fans now lamenting trades and parity think? Knowing the MLB owners, what true fans of baseball want is a way, way down their to-screw-up list.