In what could be the final start of his career in a Tigers’ uniform, Tarik Skubal notched his 1,000th career strikeout at the Major League level on Wednesday. Taylor Ward was the victim for the Orioles as Skubal became the 17th pitcher in Tigers history to achieve the feat with the club.
The 29 year old was able to achieve the feat in just 857 innings, eclipsing the previous record for fastest to 1,000 Ks held by Max Scherzer who accomplished the feat in 944.2 IP. Accomplishing the feat at home was important to the star hurler who nearly reached the milestone in his last outing, getting to 999 career punch outs on Friday.
The reigning Cy Young Award winner has been the subject of trade rumours for much of the season. Currently playing on a 1 year, $32M arbitration deal, Skubal is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the conclusion of the season.
With Detroit seeing how the Angels mishandled the Shohei Ohtani situation, and given their current 51-57 record, many expect the Tigers to be sellers ahead of the August 3rd trade deadline. Nevertheless, the club remains just 5 games back of top spot in the AL Central, meaning that if the team feels that they can make a late season push, they could take a risk on retaining Skubal and seeing how far he can pitch them into the postseason.
If however they do move the star lefty, they’ll be looking at a substantial return of both prospects and MLB ready talent coming back their way. To that extent, the Cubs, Dodgers, and Yankees have all been linked to Skubal as they look to shore up their starting rotations heading into the postseason.
The latest buzz out of Los Angeles suggests that if the Dodgers were to land Skubal, the goal would be to have him take Ohtani’s spot in the rotation and have him strictly serve as a DH down the stretch. This would be in an effort to ensure he’s 100% healthy for the playoffs as the Dodgers look to make it a three peat in the fall.
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