As the SF Giants were getting walked off by the San Diego Padres on Saturday night, another gut punch landed for their fans: the Los Angeles Dodgers had gone and traded for Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal.
At this point, the Dodgers doing something outrageous barely registers as news. They keep signing the best free agents, they keep trading for elite players, and even when some of those moves don’t hit, they still keep rolling because the roster is already loaded and the farm system keeps feeding it.
They hardly needed Skubal. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasgow and Shohei Ohtani were already there, though Ohtani’s knee is bothering him a bit, so the Dodgers are apparently giving him a little breather by adding the two-time reigning American League Cy Young Award winner.
The part that stings for Giants fans is that this one came with the same familiar twist: former Giants general manager Scott Harris, now the president of baseball operations for the Detroit Tigers, was the one on the other end of it. If anyone was hoping he might show a little backbone and work out a deal with someone other than the Dodgers, that hope looks misplaced. The return Detroit got also appears suspiciously light.
That’s why the whole thing has fueled the kind of joke that starts sounding less like a joke the longer the Dodgers keep doing this: maybe Farhan Zaidi was a Dodger plant all along, and maybe the conspiracy went even deeper than that. Maybe he hired Harris, and maybe the 2021 season helped Harris land in Detroit because the Dodgers were already eight Stratego moves ahead, knew they’d need a mole in the Tigers’ front office, and had Skubal’s rise mapped out before anyone else.
Of course, the more honest reaction is probably just laughter. Or crying.
Or both. Because once the Dodgers start looking inevitable, it’s hard not to wonder if they’re about to run the table again and win a third straight title.
Intellectually, nobody can say it’s locked up. They could have lost last year’s World Series, and the year before that they were on the ropes in the NLDS against the Padres.
But the feeling around them is different now. It feels like they’re headed for another championship, and if that happens, CBA negotiations could drag on forever and the 2027 season might get shortened or even wiped out in a lockout.
For the Giants, the uncomfortable truth is that the only realistic way to catch the Dodgers may be for the rules to change. A salary cap.
No deferred money. Some version of a reset that makes the sport feel fair again.
Ownership hasn’t shown a willingness to go all in, so maybe a new system is the only path to a real fight.
Baseball was supposed to be the sport where monopolies didn’t rule the day, where dynasties were built on drafting well, developing talent and catching a little magic. The Dodgers are making a different argument now: money, depth and sheer force can do the job too.
And if Giants fans needed one more reason to groan, they might soon be reading about the best players to wear No. 7 instead of watching meaningful Giants baseball. That’s the world the Dodgers are building.
In Other News...
Giants Just Sent A Clear Message About What Comes Next
The Giants made an early-summer pitching shuffle by moving Tyler Mahle to Atlanta and bringing back right-handed reliever Anthony Molina, a deal that fits the kind of deadline posture the front office has been signaling. Mahles time in San Francisco was uneven, but the team had started to see him settle in a bit more as the season went along, which made his departure notable even in a market where clubs are constantly chasing bullpen help and roster flexibility.
Molina gives San Francisco another arm to sort through as the deadline approaches, and the move suggests the Giants are not treating this as a one-and-done swap. There is still more activity expected before the cutoff, and this trade may be the clearest indication yet that the Giants are willing to keep reshaping the staff if it helps them cover innings now and keep options open for what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Finally Have A Willy Adames Trade Opening To Watch
The Giants have spent the offseason listening on Willy Adames even after committing to him on a long-term deal, but the market has not exactly come roaring in. For a player with a hefty contract and a reputation that should play well at shortstop, San Francisco has had to wait for the right club to line up both the need and the willingness to take on the commitment.
One possible opening is in Boston, where the Red Sox are still looking for help at shortstop. If they cannot get what they want elsewhere, Adames could become a name to monitor, though any deal would still have to clear a few obvious hurdles for the Giants to move him at all. His no-trade clause gives him leverage, and the obligation on his contract runs deep enough to make any conversation more complicated than a simple swap of needs. [Read more 🡒]
Kevin Gausman Trade Just Set The Robbie Ray Deadline Bar
Kevin Gausmans move from Toronto to the Chicago Cubs has already given the pitching market a new reference point, and it comes with a familiar name for Giants fans. The right-hander, who previously spent time in San Francisco, was dealt in the final season of his Blue Jays contract for two prospects, a reminder that contenders will part with young talent for a proven arm when the timing lines up.
For the Giants, the deal naturally shifts the conversation to Robbie Ray and what his own market might look like if they decide to move him. San Francisco has already dipped into that trade lane recently with the acquisition of reliever Anthony Molina, so the front office knows how quickly deadlines can turn into roster shuffles. Gausmans return is the kind of benchmark that can shape expectations, even if the Giants still have to decide how far they want to push the idea. [Read more 🡒]