Under The Knife 5/28/26
Made For May
TARIK SKUBAL, SP DET (inflamed elbow)
BLAKE SNELL, SP LAD (inflamed elbow)
The Tigers are talking about Tarik Skubal and I don’t think you have to look to hard to see Scott Boras’ fingerprints on statements as well. Skubal threw again on Tuesday, a sim game where he gave up a homer but looked good otherwise, and will have another session over the weekend. The Tigers are saying he’d need a rehab assignment of at least one start, while the Skubal side is saying he doesn’t. A player can’t refuse a rehab assignment, but it’s certainly negotiable.
Ken Rosenthal tossed out on Saturday what I’ve been saying here - that the Brewers are a legitimate possibility for a Skubal deal. They have the prospects and have done this before, albeit a couple GMs ago, with CC Sabathia. Brice Turang, a pitcher, and a prospect? That’s a pretty nice haul for a rental. The Brewers could take on the $15m or so easily and can backfill second with one of their shortstop prospects. There are other teams as well.
I’ll go bolder here: were I the Brewers, I’d make the offer right now. Skubal is close and the price and competition only gets higher from here. There’s risk, but probably much less than most think. Recurrence risk? Low. His flexor and UCL checked out well during his recent surgery. The downside is that he’s back in mid-June rather than early June? I’ll take it.
On the other hand, we’ve heard NOTHING about Blake Snell since the surgery, but that’s a function of the fact that there’s no upside. If Snell is back in two months, the Dodgers are fine, plus they’re not letting the rest of the league know exactly what’s going on, which puts a bit of uncertainty on everything, including the NanoNeedle. Let me be clear - Snell is on the same track as Skubal, if he and the Dodgers choose to do so.
That remains open and will confuse just how much time has been cut off the standard. (Same with Skubal - he could already be back, physically.) My expectation is we’ll see Snell throwing in public soon and back in late June or early July - a six week mark seems a reasonable target that accomplishes everyone’s goals.
Need more NanoNeedle knowledge? Arthrex’s Ryan Kellar breaks down how they built this game changer on the latest Injury Territory.
The rest? This is the virtual tollbooth where I assert that my work has value, even though I’ve never raised the price. I’d actually lower it if I could, but then again, I have bills to pay like everyone. I realize not everyone can, or will, but consider it, please.