Cubs Look Like Tarik Skubal Fit on Paper, Other Than How Much Paper He’ll Command
As with many other free agents at the top of nearly every Cubs fan’s wish list, Tarik Skubal is going to draw a lot of attention over the next several months. Or many only the next several weeks, though it’s hard to imagine the lefty signing a deal in what figures to be a very limited window between the end of the season and the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement. So until he signs elsewhere, expect to keep hearing about a connection to the Cubs.
Some of that is by design, as super-agent Scott Boras will want to leverage as many teams as possible while negotiating a monster contract for his client. But we’re still talking about a limited market for Skubal, one in which the Cubs look really good on paper. As Patrick Mooney explained on a recent episode of the North Side Territory podcast with Sahadev Sharma, the connection makes a ton of sense.
“From Skubal’s perspective, there are only a small number of teams at any given point that are gonna be in play for the top pitcher on the free-agent market,” Mooney said. “Like, who can comfortably fit his contract onto their books? How many teams are in a winning cycle? How many teams have that glaring need? And how many destinations hold appeal to the free agent?
“And the Cubs check all of those boxes. I mean, Skubal’s from Arizona. His family is rooted there, he has a home base not far from the Cubs’ Mesa facility. Does that get a deal across the finish line alone? No. But…When the entire focus is pitching, you have to look at the best pitcher out there. And when you’ve already tried to acquire him at the trade deadline, you’ve done a ton of homework on him already, you have a pretty good idea of maybe some of his geographic preferences.”
But we all know that the only thing better than all those anecdotal matches on paper is a piece of paper with a whole bunch of zeroes, which Mooney acknowledged. Even with their explicit need to upgrade a pitching staff that simply wasn’t good enough, injuries or no, pushing into uncharted waters with the largest contract in team history does not seem likely for Jed Hoyer and Tom Ricketts. Unless, of course, they truly believe that Skubal alone makes them a World Series contender.
While things could still change in the NLCS, Skubal’s presence in the rotation alone won’t help the Dodgers to overcome an 0-2 deficit. Nor will he be able to occupy a spot in the bullpen when he’s not starting, which means the Cubs are still going to need to make appreciable improvements elsewhere. Their repeated reluctance to spend at the top of the market is one thing, but their glaring needs across the entire staff make a Skubal pursuit seem that much more improbable.
Ah, but it’s not impossible. As stacked as the available evidence is against the Cubs’ legitimate participation in the Skubal sweepstakes, there remains enough circumstantial information to suggest they could be in the mix. This is a meal that’ll be made in the slow cooker rather than on the grill, though, so don’t expect to hear much of substance for quite some time.
