NY Radio host Sal Licata has no doubt the New York Mets will chase Tarik Skubal. He doubts Skubal will say yes. The Mets went 74-88 and finished last in the NL East in 2026, and Licata expects Steve Cohen and David Stearns to spend.
What he does not hear is the certainty that surrounded Juan Soto. In the SNY podcast, he said,
“I think the reports now are having the Dodgers backing his big players and there’s something about Skubal. Maybe said to him, take that stupid espresso machine. Something about Skubal makes me feel like he… like Soto, he’ll drop him on the table.”
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“He doesn’t care about New York. He wants the smoke of New York. He left the Yankees and dealt with that he’d come to the Mets. I’m not getting the sense that Skubal is that guy. I think that’s the biggest reason.”
That chase ended with Juan Soto signing a 15-year, $765 million deal in December 2024, after a season with the New York Yankees had already shown he could handle NY. Tarik Skubal’s path is different.
He spent his whole career with the Detroit Tigers before the team traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 2. He went 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA in 10 starts for Los Angeles, finished the regular season 12-7, and started the NLDS and NLCS openers before the Milwaukee Brewers swept the Dodgers.
Asked about his future after the Dodgers were eliminated, Tarik Skubal said: “I’m not going to comment on my future really at all.” The market adds urgency.
The collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1 with a lockout widely expected, so clubs with holes to fill have reason to move early. The Mets and the Dodgers both fit that description.
Dodgers Could Target Starting Pitching Depth Beyond Tarik Skubal If They Miss Out on Signing
The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya and Katie Woo expect the Los Angeles Dodgers to be in the Tarik Skubal market. However, both believe the Dodgers won’t go straight to the next-best arm if they end up missing on Skubal.
“The Dodgers will be in on Skubal. If he goes elsewhere, I don’t think it’s as simple as the Dodgers going after the next highest-ranked starter on the market, such as a Freddy Peralta or a Michael King,” Ardaya said.
Freddy Peralta and Michael King headline the tier beneath Tarik Skubal. Peralta was traded from the New York Mets to the Tampa Bay Rays during the season; King opted out of the final two years and $58 million of his San Diego Padres deal.
Both will be costly, which is why Woo answered with a qualified yes when asked whether the Dodgers could respond with a broader rotation fix. She said,
“Could we see that again if they miss on Skubal? I say yes, though I agree with Fabian that the Dodgers won’t necessarily take the next best starter. … Still, pitching depth is vital, as the Dodgers know well. The Dodgers could consider an assortment of middle-tier starters to address that need.”
The logic is workload. Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow all carried injury questions into 2026. Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s 185 innings led the staff, and Justin Wrobleski was next at 140.
Woo has reported that Ohtani intends to pitch in 2027, which helps, but a rotation with that history needs volume as much as it needs an ace. None of this settles whether Tarik Skubal stays.
He was the best starter moved at the deadline, and he is the best available now. The Dodgers have the payroll and the familiarity to keep him. Sal Licata’s argument is that the Mets can match the money and still lose on fit.
Edited by Kaushani Chatterjee
