The Toronto Blue Jays have been connected to superstar starting pitcher Tarik Skubal, with some even pegging them as frontrunners if and when the Detroit Tigers decide to move their ace.
Skubal would be an amazing addition, there is no doubt about that, but recent comments from ESPN insider Buster Olney suggest that it might not be all that realistic after all.
“When Skubal’s name first came up a couple weeks ago and the Blue Jays were one of the teams mentioned for him, I’m like, that’s not really Mark’s style. I think that they’ll do more, sort of, adding around the edges. I don’t think they’ll get the best starting pitcher, but depending on their injury situation, maybe they’ll get one of the starting pitchers that will be available… you’re going to get somebody decent, I just don’t think the Blue Jays will absolutely go bonkers,”
He did, however, go on to mention three other high-end starters that he could see the Blue Jays targeting: Sandy Alcantara, Freddy Peralta, and Joe Ryan.
Alcantara, 30, has shown flashes of returning to form during and up and down season with the Miami Marlins, Ryan, 30, has been rather dominant when healthy for the Minnesota Twins, and Peralta, 30, has had a strong start to his time with the New York Mets.
All three are proven top-of-the-rotation arms that would very likely come at a lower acquisition cost than a blockbuster trade for Skubal.
It would make plenty of sense for the Blue Jays to target names like these given their injury woes at the position and the fact that you can never have enough pitching, especially come playoff time, which Toronto hopes to be playing in.
Missing out on Skubal would certainly be disappointing, but Alcantara, Peralta, and Ryan would represent strong fallback options — if you can even call them that.
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