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The Detroit Tigers (23-38) are tied with the Los Angeles Angels and Colorado Rockies for the worst record in MLB, and superstar left-hander Tarik Skubal is a free agent after this season; we know the principle here.
With that in mind, which team makes the most sense to trade for the American League’s back-to-back Cy Young Award winner? Dontrelle Willis thinks this team is the Milwaukee Brewers.
“I would love to see them [the Brewers] Get Skubal because he has big game experience, and he can go on the road and shut down the opposing team’s offense, whether it’s the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Atlanta Braves or whoever, especially coming from the left side,” the FOX Sports MLB analyst said Monday. “It’s a situation where, if you’re a Brewers fan, you want them to take the next step because they’ve made the playoffs, but they’ve had a lot of grief, especially in recent memory, in difficult times.
“You go out and get this [Skubal]this may look like a CC Sabathia move, and you saw what that did.
Skubal is nursing an elbow injury that kept him from playing on an MLB mound last month, with the consensus being that the left-hander could return to the Tigers in early July. FOX Sports MLB Insider Ken Rosenthal recently reported that it’s “trending” for the Tigers to move Skubal before the 2026 MLB trade deadline (August 3).
In the seven starts he has made this season, Skubal has a 2.70 ERA, a 0.95 WHIP, 45 total strikeouts, a 156 ERA+ and 1.7 wins above replacement in 43 ⅓ innings pitched. Skubal led AL starting pitchers in ERA and WAR in 2024 and 2025, finished with a WHIP less than one in three straight seasons (2023-25) and recorded 234.5 strikeouts per year from 2024-25.
As for the potential trade deal, the Brewers have been on fire over the past month, as they have won 18 of their last 23 games and are now 36-21, good for a five and a half game lead in first place in the National League Central. Skubal would join a Milwaukee starting rotation that is already among the best in the game, as the Brewers starting lineup is tied for first in MLB in opponent batting average (.208), third in ERA (3.13), tied for third in WHIP (1.11) and tied for seventh in strikeouts (319). Granted, they are only 26th in innings pitched (279.1).
In what is his first full season at the MLB level, Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski is the early favorite to win the NL Cy Young Award, as the flame-throwing right-hander owns a 1.65 ERA, an NL-best 0.79 WHIP and 108 strikeouts, a 249 ERA+ and three wins above replacement. Meanwhile, left-hander Kyle Harrison sports a 1.57 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 61 strikeouts, 263 ERA+ and 2.4 wins above replacement. Their success comes against the backdrop of Milwaukee’s trading ace Freddy Peralta and fellow right-hander Tobias Myers of the New York Mets during the offseason.
As for the Willis comparison, the Brewers made a blockbuster trade for Cleveland ace CC Sabathia in 2008 that propelled them to a wild card spot in the National League. In his 17 regular season starts for the Brewers, the Hall of Fame left-hander pitched seven complete games and recorded a combined 1.65 ERA.
The Brewers are coming off a 2025 campaign that saw them win an MLB-best 97 games in the regular season, but then were swept by the Dodgers in the NLCS. While Milwaukee has made the playoffs in seven of the last eight seasons, it has only reached the NLCS twice during that span (2018 and 2025). The Brewers, who have never won a World Series, have not reached the Fall Classic since 1982.
