No Skubal, but Cubs’ Hoyer still aced trade deadline

Reporters lined up in the tunnel adjacent to the visiting clubhouse at Wrigley Field as the Los Angeles Dodgers’ bold-faced names Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani made their way from the bus to the clubhouse.

Sure, the Chicago Cubs have Pete Crow-Armstrong, but this was the Dodgers’ star power on full display. We’re taking wattage, not a twinkle.

But we were waiting for a different Dodger, and perhaps the most important one right now. As those three walked through one door, Tarik Skubal was about to have his introductory news conference in one of the Cubs’ private clubs across the hall.

In there, about two dozen reporters and cameramen crammed around Skubal, the former Detroit Tigers ace who definitely doesn’t sound like he’s gone Hollywood.

“They’ve been a pretty good baseball team without me, so I’m just going to try and show up and kind of be a chameleon in a sense, and fit right into these guys and just jell with them,” Skubal said. “They’ve got the winning recipe. They understand what it takes to win. I don’t.”

Of course, Skubal was just being modest. The Dodgers are the two-time defending champs, but he’s the two-time defending American League Cy Young winner, the biggest prize of this year’s trade market and the ensuing free-agent market (whenever that is).

Skubal to the Dodgers felt like a fait accompli to pretty much everyone in baseball, the best player going to the big-market behemoth. The trade infuriated fans and likely delighted the MLB executives and owners who are thirsty to implement a hard salary cap in the next collective bargaining agreement.

Not every team can sign Skubal when he reaches free agency after the season, but he was available to a lot more teams before Monday’s 6 p.m. ET trade deadline — for the right prospect price.

“I think every team could trade for me,” Skubal said. “Every team could make that acquisition. And I don’t really sympathize with people that blame the Dodgers for anything they’ve done. They’ve developed a really good organization. They draft well, they acquire talent really well, they retain talent. It’s a winning organization.”

Ten years after a star-studded Cubs team beat the Dodgers in the NLCS and won the World Series, the roles have certainly reversed. The Dodgers have redefined the notion of “sustained success” thanks to a verdant local TV deal and farm system. The Cubs whiffed on a dynasty and now are trying to find postseason magic again.

On Tuesday, Skubal was slated to start against the Cubs and the baseball world’s eyes will be on Wrigley Field.

Cubs fans dreamed of adding Skubal, but it never came close to happening. (Neither did a Reid Detmers deal, despite what you read.) Cubs president Jed Hoyer said he spoke with his former protégé Scott Harris, who now has the same job in Detroit, during the run-up to the deadline, but obviously they couldn’t come to a deal.

Ironically, the top prospect the Tigers acquired is a former Cubs farmhand, outfielder Zyhir Hope, whom Hoyer traded to Los Angeles for first baseman Michael Busch before the 2024 season.

Skubal or not, Hoyer’s Cubs are a near-lock to make the playoffs despite a season filled with pitching injuries. So his needs at the deadline were obvious.

“In some ways, we were as focused as I can remember in a deadline,” Hoyer said. “It was very clear we needed to add pitching.”

In the last two days of the trading season, Hoyer landed rental starters Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes, controllable pitchers Ryan Zeferjahn and Braxton Garrett and backup outfielder Tyrone Taylor. Gausman and Holmes together could be more valuable than one Skubal. Hoyer traded enough prospects to silence at least some of his doubters.

“I think we’re a little more talented than we were 48 hours ago,” Hoyer said.

With the Milwaukee Brewers seemingly destined to win another NL Central crown, the Cubs are poised to finish atop the wild-card standings for the second consecutive season. Last year, they lost to Milwaukee in five games in the National League Division Series, but even if the Cubs had won, they lacked the starting pitching to make it past the Dodgers in the NLCS.

With a handful of pitchers slated to return from stints on the injured list — closer Daniel Palencia and starter Edward Cabrera are pitching for Triple-A Iowa on Wednesday — the dream scenario for the Cubs is to have enough depth on their pitching staff to feel good about any playoff matchup, including the Dodgers. But we know pitchers will go down between now and then and others will have to step up.

“It’s just a lesson that you get taught every single year about starting pitching,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said.

Hoyer added Cabrera and third baseman Alex Bregman in the offseason in hopes of putting the Cubs over the top in the division. They were hot early, but then came a rash of injuries and a 7-22 stretch from May 9 through June 10 that saw the Cubs go from 3 1/2 games up to 8 games back in the division.

So now, they find themselves in an unenviable position as the fourth-best team in the National League. Will the Cubs catch Milwaukee? Probably not, but with these additions, the Cubs should reach the playoffs with little drama and perhaps be set up pretty well once they get there.

The Dodgers are outliers in many ways, but in modern sports, it’s extraordinarily difficult to repeat as champions, and they’re gunning for MLB’s first three-peat since the New York Yankees (1998-2000). Skubal will be a major boon to those efforts.

“Clearly, they’re going to be the favorites; they won two times in a row,” Hoyer said. “They’ve got the most talent in baseball. I don’t think there’s any question about that. It’s a great challenge for everybody. I think going back to back is an incredible accomplishment. And I totally respect the fact that they really pushed in to do it three times in a row. What an amazing thing to try to accomplish it. It’s our job and everyone else’s job to try and make that not happen.”

About an hour and a half after Hoyer talked, Dodgers second baseman Tommy Edman (acquired in a 2024 trade) hit a three-run homer against Cubs starter Matthew Boyd in the top of the first inning of Monday’s game.

Was that a reality check for the upstart Cubs?

Not so fast. In the first three innings, Seiya Suzuki, Kevin Alcantara and Carson Kelly hit two-run homers. Busch added a solo shot in the fifth and drove in two more runs. That was enough as the Cubs (64-49) outlasted Los Angeles (69-44) 10-5 at a packed Wrigley Field.

Money can’t buy happiness or success, but it does help. The Dodgers signed ex-Cub Kyle Tucker last offseason, and he’s been so disappointing that I couldn’t tell if the boos he got Monday night were from Cubs or Dodgers fans. And while his massive deal — he’s making $55 million this year in salary and signing bonus — won’t hold the Dodgers back from spending more down the road, he also might not help the Dodgers this October.

And that’s what the trade deadline is all about, making moves for the present. The Cubs didn’t get Skubal, but maybe they did enough to beat him and his new team. That’s the hope and the plan.

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