{"id":801886,"date":"2026-07-14T18:57:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T18:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/801886\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T18:57:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T18:57:13","slug":"tampa-bay-rays-eye-detroit-tigers-ace-tarik-skubal-other-top-names-ahead-of-trade-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/801886\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Rays eye Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, other top names ahead of trade deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Sitting atop the American League East with the best record in the AL, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/tampa-bay-rays\/254\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/tampa-bay-rays\/254\" target=\"_blank\">Tampa Bay Rays<\/a> could be looking to make a splash ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/mlb\/columnist\/bob-nightengale\/2026\/07\/12\/mlb-all-star-break-second-half-storylines-trade-deadline\/90886326007\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/mlb\/columnist\/bob-nightengale\/2026\/07\/12\/mlb-all-star-break-second-half-storylines-trade-deadline\/90886326007\/\">USA TODAY\u2019s Bob Nightengale reports<\/a> the team is interested in not only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/detroit-tigers\/230\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/detroit-tigers\/230\" target=\"_blank\">Detroit Tigers<\/a> ace <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/player\/tarik-skubal\/1055775\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/player\/tarik-skubal\/1055775\" target=\"_blank\">Tarik Skubal<\/a>, but are also looking at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/arizona-diamondbacks\/253\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/arizona-diamondbacks\/253\" target=\"_blank\">Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a> All-Star second baseman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/player\/ketel-marte\/597026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/player\/ketel-marte\/597026\" target=\"_blank\">Ketel Marte<\/a>. Should that not materialize, the Rays could turn to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/player\/luis-arraez\/828153\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/player\/luis-arraez\/828153\" target=\"_blank\">Luis Arraez<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/san-francisco-giants\/250\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/san-francisco-giants\/250\" target=\"_blank\">San Francisco Giants<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Whether or not Skubal or Marte is actually available remains to be seen, but the team\u2019s interest signals an aggressive approach not normally associated with the way the Rays operate. The resurgent Tigers won seven of 10 leading into the All-Star break and now sit 3.5 games back of an AL wild-card spot. Complicating their chase is the fact that four teams sit in front of them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The D-Backs headed into the break on the back of four straight wins. They are 2.5 games out of a wild-card spot in the National League. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/pittsburgh-pirates\/247\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/pittsburgh-pirates\/247\" target=\"_blank\">Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/st-louis-cardinals\/248\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/st-louis-cardinals\/248\" target=\"_blank\">St. Louis Cardinals<\/a> sit in between them and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/miami-marlins\/252\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/miami-marlins\/252\" target=\"_blank\">Miami Marlins<\/a>, who currently occupy the final playoff place in the NL.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Arraez is almost assuredly available. The four-time All-Star\u2019s Giants sit at 41-55 and are 10.5 games out of a wild-card spot. They trail the NL West-leading <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/los-angeles-dodgers\/243\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/los-angeles-dodgers\/243\" target=\"_blank\">Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> by 19.5 games. General manager Zack Minasian is expected to be a motivated seller heading into the deadline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">A 29-year-old native of San Felipe, Venezuela, Arraez is in his eighth big league season and first with the Giants. He\u2019s batting .330 with 119 hits, four home runs, 35 runs batted in and an OPS of .829. A three-time batting champion, Arraez is playing on a one-year, $12 million deal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The Rays (56-38) return from the break on Friday, opening a four-game set with a doubleheader against the red-hot <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/boston-red-sox\/226\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/boston-red-sox\/226\" target=\"_blank\">Boston Red Sox<\/a> (46-48)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sitting atop the American League East with the best record in the AL, the Tampa Bay Rays could&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[712,49,48,168392,184146,462,82,89837,75158],"class_list":["post-801886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ketel-marte-sports-baseball-player-player-statscom-597026","tag-luis-arraez-sports-baseball-player-player-statscom-828153","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-tampa-bay-rays-sports-baseball-team-team-statscom-254","tag-tarik-skubal-sports-baseball-player-player-statscom-1055775"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801886","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=801886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}