Brewers Reaching Out To Slumping Tigers About Tarik Skubal

With the Detroit Tigers now having lost three in a row and having to leapfrog five teams in the AL wild-card standings, suitors are starting to contact the team about adding two-time reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal.

One of five teams mentioned by The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal on Tuesday, a day after the Tigers' 8-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, is the Milwaukee Brewers.

As expected, it would take a huge haul for the prize of this year's trade deadline. On top of being a two-time Cy Young, the left-hander has regained that form after having some bumpy starts (from a Skubal perspective) following a nano-needle procedure to remove a single bone chip from his left elbow. In his last start, Skubal struck out 12 over 7⅓ innings in a 2-1 win over the Kansas City Royals on Friday.

Skubal is scheduled to make his final start before Monday's trade deadline Wednesday.

Rosenthal notes that front offices kept their distance as the Tigers hovered on the line of contending, but following Monday's loss five teams had plans to touch base again and possibly ramp up negotiations for Skubal. Joining the Brewers in that pursuit are the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees and Atlanta.

The Brewers have the No. 1 farm system in all of baseball, according to several outlets, so there is no shortage of prospects to pull from. Rosenthal says that Scott Harris, the Tigers' president of baseball operations, would likely ask to have access to every player in any suitor's system. For the Brewers, that would include Double-A shortstop Jesus Made, the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball by most outlets and obviously the No. 1 by Brewer Fanatic, as well as High-A shortstop Luis Pena, Brewer Fanatic's No. 2 prospect.

The Tigers would no doubt be in search of a young pitcher as well, which could put right-hander Logan Henderson in play.

A move for Skubal by the Brewers would harken back to the 2008 blockbuster for left-hander CC Sabathia, who put together a storybook run en route to getting the Brewers to the postseason for the first time since 1982 and then cashed in with a huge free-agent contract. Like Sabathia was, Skubal will be a free agent following the season. He is making $32 million this year.