Padres’ aggressive deadline stance puts Tarik Skubal blockbuster rumor back in play

You gotta love the nonsense around the trade deadline. One minute, Buster Olney is on the Just Baseball Show saying he thinks Tarik Skubal could land with the San Diego Padres if the Detroit Tigers actually decide to move him. 

Then, only a couple days later, Olney added another layer to the whole thing.

“Some trade stuff: Tigers are telling other teams: As of now, they’re not selling. The sweep of the Rays will fuel their hope of climbing back into the AL race,” Olney wrote.

So, yeah. Which one is it? Probably both, honestly. Welcome to June trade season, where every team is buying, selling, listening, not listening, taking calls, hanging up calls, and leaking whatever they want at their own benefit.

The Padres’ part of this is still the part that matters most in San Diego. Olney’s read was about the Padres communicating aggressiveness to other teams fits everything we already know about this franchise’s persona. This front office doesn’t tiptoe toward the deadline. It jumps right into the deep end.

That definitely doesn’t mean Skubal is a lock. It means the Padres are exactly the kind of team that would make the call, and keep poking around if Detroit’s “we’re not selling” stance starts to crack.

Padres’ Tarik Skubal rumor is alive because Detroit’s deadline stance can change fast

The Tigers can say whatever they want. Why not? They would be foolish to hang a for-sale sign on a two-time Cy Young winner in almost a month and a half from the deadline. Especially while he’s working his way back from elbow surgery. That’s not how leverage works.

Detroit is 25-38, fourth in the AL Central and 11 games behind the Cleveland Guardians. That’s not a team calmly steering toward October. They’re a team trying to convince itself that one good week, and convince the opposing front offices as well

Skubal has been excellent when healthy. In seven starts this season, he’s gone 3-2 with a 2.70 ERA, 45 strikeouts and a 0.95 WHIP across 43 1/3 innings. Even in an injury-shortened stretch, he has still looked like exactly what he is.

Detroit can hope. They can wait. Detroit can tell teams it is not selling. But if the standings don’t move in a meaningful way by late July, the conversation changes. It always changes.

For the Padres, the bigger takeaway is that San Diego is already being talked about like a team preparing to hunt at the top of the market. Is anyone surprised? 

The only surprise is that with new ownership, money to spend and a roster that still feels like it needs another serious push, the Padres may be built to make everyone uncomfortable.

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