In an offseason of many transitions for the Los Angeles Dodgers, one decision looms among the largest.
When the two-time defending champions traded for two-time Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal at the trade deadline, there was a certain amount of risk attacked to it.
The risk was not necessarily in terms of play as he attained a 2.61 ERA in his 10 regular season starts as a Dodger, but with the fact that Skubal would become a free agent when the season ended.
The season ended far earlier than anyone around the organization would have wanted, and now Skubal is entering free agency as by far the best player available. The team that ends up succesfully courting the soon-to-be 30-year-old Skubal, however, is expected to potentially spend close to $500 million to lock him down.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman was asked about Skubal at the team's end-of-season press conference, and praised him for his quick transition to a new team.
“It’s not easy for a guy to get traded in the middle of a season to come to a new city, new clubhouse,” Friedman said. “The way he was able to seamlessly transition, not just in terms of on the field, but in the clubhouse, I can’t say enough good things about the impact that he made in such a short period of time.”
As for Skubal's postseason play, as expected, he excelled.
In two October starts (11 innings), he had a 2.45 ERA, striking out 14 and walking four.
Now Friedman has an opportunity to ensure that those weren't the final two starts of Skubal's Dodgers tenure.
In terms of Skubal's free agency, Friedman avoided much discourse, instead saying Skubal will make a business decision at the end of the day, and all the organization can do is have discussions with his agent, Scott Boras.
“He’s put himself in this position to go out and be a free agent. And for us, it’s [to] continue to talk to Scott," Friedman said. "But he and his family have to make a choice over where they want to spend the next X number of years, and obviously we wish him nothing but the best.”
The hope for LA is that Skubal's talents can be long appreciated at Dodger Stadium, and that he doesn't join the unfortunate list of trade deadline acquisitions who left the following offseason.
Though some worked out more than others, players like Yu Darvish, Manny Machado, Max Scherzer and most recently Jack Flaherty (who also came from the Detroit Tigers) are each a part of a list that Dodgers fans will hope to not see Skubal on.
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