The Toronto Blue Jays are currently fighting for their playoff lives with two weeks to go in the 2026 MLB regular season, but that doesn’t mean it’s too early to have one eye toward the offseason and how they can improve their roster.
Whether the Blue Jays sneak into the postseason or not, it’s clear that changes need to be made this winter. Most would assume and suggest those changes should come on the offensive side of the spectrum. However, former player and current analyst Dallas Braden wonders if Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro could be big players for the best free-agent pitcher on the market: Tarik Skubal.
“A crazy part of me, crazy. Are the Blue Jays a player [for Tarik Skubal]? Oh, for sure. It just feels like the Blue Jays at times have said, ‘Yes, if Shohei’s on the block, then we’re circling the block for sure. What’s up? We will roll down the window, we will holler, we will allow Shohei to get in our car in the middle of the intersection at 3:30 in the morning and pay him to do whatever we would like him to do for us.’ But is Skubal on that level for them? Do they feel like he can be as impactful to them?”
The 29-year-old Skubal is currently playing on the one-year, $32 million contract he signed with the Tigers in February after winning his arbitration case. He’s gone 9-7 across 23 starts this season, sporting a 2.84 ERA with 164 strikeouts and just 24 walks in the process.
While the top of the rotation with Dylan Cease, Jose Soriano and Trey Yesavage is already a strength for Toronto, we’ve seen this year that you can never have too much pitching, and that’s especially true when there is the possibility of adding the best left-handed pitcher in all of baseball like Skubal.
Finding ways to inject more pop into the lineup should remain the number one priority for the Blue Jays, but if they can’t find that via trade given the weak free-agent class, then the idea of turning to Skubal isn’t all that crazy.
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