The Chicago Cubs don’t look like they’re going to be part of the Tarik Skubal chase.
That’s the latest read from Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic, who reported Monday that the Cubs “appear unlikely to enter the bidding war” for the free agent left-hander. The timing matters, too, with the MLB General Managers’ meetings set to begin this week and the market for Skubal starting to come into focus.
It’s not hard to see why Chicago would be viewed as a stretch. The Cubs have never handed out a contract worth more than $184 million, and their biggest deal for a pitcher came in 2015, when they gave Jon Lester $155 million. Skubal, meanwhile, is projected to land the largest contract ever for a pitcher, with a deal expected to land somewhere in nine-figure territory and likely begin with a 3, 4 or 5 rather than a 1 or 2.
For the Dodgers, that leaves the path to Skubal looking a little cleaner. They already paid a steep price to get him, sending prospects Zyhir Hope, River Ryan and Brady Smith to the Detroit Tigers in August for the final months of the 2026 season.
Skubal delivered right away. In 10 regular-season starts after the trade, he went 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA.
In the postseason, he made two Game 1 starts for Los Angeles, one against the Atlanta Braves and one against the Milwaukee Brewers. He won the first, lost the second and never got the chance for a third after the Brewers swept the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.
Across his time with the Dodgers and Tigers, Skubal is 66-44 with a 3.02 ERA and 138 ERA+ in 163 regular-season games. He’s been even sharper in the postseason, going 3-2 with a 2.13 ERA in eight starts from 2024-26.
Now that he’s a free agent for the first time, the list of realistic suitors may be short. With the Cubs apparently out, the New York Mets stand as the Dodgers’ most likely competition for Skubal while MLB’s current labor agreement remains in place. If Skubal signs before that agreement expires on Dec. 1, it could come down to a two-team battle.
If the league eventually moves into a world with a hard salary cap and floor, more teams could enter the picture. MLB recently proposed a $180.2 million minimum payroll starting in 2028. But for now, the market seems narrow, and the Dodgers may have one fewer obstacle in front of them.
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