Tigers say farewell to back-to-back Cy winner Skubal, get 3 highly touted prospects from LA

WEST SACRAMENTO -- The Tarik Skubal era in Detroit is over. The Tigers have traded the back-to-back American League Cy Young Award winner to the Dodgers for a prospect package of outfielder Zyhir Hope and right-handers River Ryan and Brady Smith, sources tell MLB.com. The clubs have not officially confirmed the deal.

The package includes two MLB Pipeline Top 100 prospects in Hope (No. 25) and Ryan (No. 68). They were the No. 5 and 7 prospects in the Dodgers' system, respectively, while Smith ranked No. 17. They’ll slot in as the No. 2 and 5 prospects in the Tigers' system, with Smith at No. 12.

The deal came together in the late hours of Saturday night while the Tigers were playing the A’s in West Sacramento. While the Tigers regained their footing on the West Coast with back-to-back wins, including Saturday's 8-6 win, their 3-4 homestand against the Royals and Orioles all but cemented their status as Trade Deadline sellers.

TRADE DETAILS
Tigers receive: Zyhir Hope (LAD No. 5 prospect, MLB No. 25), RHP River Ryan (LAD No. 7, MLB No. 68) and RHP Brady Smith (LAD No. 17)
Dodgers receive: LHP Tarik Skubal

That the Tigers put a deal together well before Monday’s 6 p.m. ET deadline goes against president of baseball operations Scott Harris’ past tendencies, but Harris and Dodgers president Andrew Friedman have worked together on similar deals in recent years. The two worked on an Eduardo Rodriguez trade at the 2023 Deadline, before Rodriguez exercised his no-trade rights, then completed a trade the following year to send Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers for prospects Trey Sweeney and Thayron Liranzo.

Neither deal, of course, was on the level of Skubal, arguably baseball’s most dominant pitcher over the last three years. Skubal posted a 38-15 record and a 2.40 ERA in 78 starts since his return from flexor tendon surgery in midseason of 2023. His changeup, a pitch he honed during his time rehabbing, became one of baseball’s most devastating pitches, and a wipeout pitch for Skubal to flummox right-handed hitters.

“It’s been incredible,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “I’ve watched this guy rise to the top of the sport. He’s carried us a lot. I’ll forever be grateful that our paths crossed and the things that he did for this organization and for a couple playoff teams.”

Skubal’s rise to the top of his profession went hand in hand with the Tigers’ rise to postseason contention. He was part of trade rumors leading into the 2024 Deadline, but the Tigers were never enticed to move him. The decision to hold onto him set up Detroit’s late-season charge to its first postseason berth in a decade, a Wild Card Series win over the Astros and a winner-take-all Game 5 in the AL Division Series in Cleveland.

The Tigers went the distance in the ALDS in back-to-back years, each time falling short. They beefed up their rotation around Skubal for one more run, adding Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander. But a 6-22 record in May dug a hole that the Tigers could never climb out of, despite a 31-20 record since the start of June that put Detroit on the fringe of the AL Wild Card race.

“The goal was always to win a World Series for the city, for the organization that took a chance on me,” Skubal said.

The Tigers couldn’t get there. That left Harris and general manager Jeff Greenberg with a choice: Ride it out with Skubal and take a comp pick if he leaves as a free agent, possibly at the end of the first round, or trade him now for a bigger return.

The prospect package helps replenish a Tigers farm system that has graduated several top prospects to Detroit this year, including top prospect Max Clark this week. If Ryan can recapture his form from two years ago, before Tommy John surgery, they’ll also have a potential front-half starter with a nasty power arsenal to eventually complement Valdez, Troy Melton and Jackson Jobe.

Hope, 21, entered Saturday slashing .293/.369/.530 with 23 homers and 87 RBIs at Double-A Tulsa to go with 18 stolen bases in 21 tries. Tigers prospects and evaluators had a better look at him last year at High-A Great Lakes, the Midwest League rival of Tigers-affiliated West Michigan. The left-handed hitter has played both outfield corners this year but can play center, and addresses a gap in highly ranked outfield prospects after Clark.

Ryan, 27, made four starts for the Dodgers in 2024 before being shelved with an elbow injury in August. He missed the entire 2025 season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, then went 3-1 with a 4.46 ERA over eight starts this season at Triple-A Oklahoma City, but hasn’t pitched since June 17 due to a strained right hamstring. His velocity seems to be back, from a four-seamer averaging 97.6 miles per hour to a sinker averaging 95.5. His slider has not been a great swing-and-miss pitch, but it has promise, while his cutter has had a high whiff rate in small doses.

Smith, 21, is 0-7 with a 4.36 ERA in 21 starts between Single-A Ontario and High-A Great Lakes. While the ERA is high for giving up 62 hits, including eight home runs, over 74 1/3 innings, the appeal comes from 113 strikeouts, a 13.7 K/9 rate.