{"id":265459,"date":"2025-11-06T11:58:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T11:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/265459\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T11:58:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T11:58:12","slug":"red-sox-well-positioned-to-target-tigers-ace-tarik-skubal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/265459\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox ‘well-positioned’ to target Tigers ace Tarik Skubal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston Red Sox\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t“Other teams believe the Tigers will seriously consider moving him if they can glean what they want in a trade.”<\/p>\n

\"Detroit
\n\tTarik Skubal could be a trade target this offseason for Boston. (AP Photo\/Sue Ogrocki)\t<\/p>\n

The Red Sox already boast one American League Cy Young Award finalist on their roster in Garrett Crochet.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

But could Boston have both Crochet and the likely 2026 Cy Young frontrunner in Detroit\u2019s Tarik Skubal in their rotation next season?<\/p>\n

ESPN\u2019s Buster Olney believes that the Red Sox have the resources in place to make a legitimate run at the reigning Cy Young Award winner this winter if Detroit dangles him out on the trade market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even though Skubal \u2014 who could be the first back-to-back AL Cy Young Award winner since Pedro Martinez (1999-2000) \u2014 has been a key cog on a playoff-bound Detroit team the last two seasons, the Tigers might be hesitant to retain him as an eventual free agent who is set to command a massive new contract after the 2026 season. <\/p>\n

\u201cOther teams believe the Tigers will seriously consider moving him if they can glean what they want in a trade \u2014 and there is every reason to expect a significant bidding war for Skubal, who will be eligible for free agency after next season,\u201d Olney wrote.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mariners are expected to be among the teams that go after Skubal, to bring him back to the city where he attended college,\u201d Olney added. \u201cThe Mets, of course, have an acute need for an ace to lead their rotation \u2014 a need borne out through their late-season collapse \u2014 and they have the sort of major-league-ready young talent that the Tigers will want, like Jonah Tong. The Red Sox are well-positioned to make a run at Skubal, if they want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skubal, 28, has arguably been the best pitcher in the American League over the last few seasons. After winning the 2024 AL Cy Young Award, he followed that up leading the AL in both ERA (2.21) and WHIP (0.891) this summer \u2014 striking out 241 batters and walking just 33 over 195.1 innings of work.<\/p>\n

A Red Sox rotation anchored by both Skubal and Crochet would give Boston one of \u2014 if not the best \u2014 rotations in baseball moving forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Boston has the assets needed to pry a player like Skubal away from Detroit, be it MLB regulars like Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, and Ceddanne Rafaela \u2014 or younger assets like Marcelo Mayer,\u00a0 Kristian Campbell, Payton Tolle, Connelly Early and other trade chips in the farm system.<\/p>\n

The Red Sox also have the fiscal flexibility to also retain Skubal long-term with a sizable contract if they are able to trade for him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The writing is on the wall that the Red Sox will be active this offseason in search of another proven starter to pair with Crochet, with Minnesota\u2019s Joe Ryan standing as another potential trade target.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the latest Boston sports news<\/p>\n

Receive updates on your favorite Boston teams, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Red Sox “Other teams believe the Tigers will seriously consider moving him if they can glean what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-265459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}