Tigers' Tarik Skubal has a preferred trade destination

Even with the Detroit Tigers still in the playoff race, A.J. Hinch's team might not be good enough to make a deep postseason run.

As such, and given his contract situation, keeping Tarik Skubal past the Aug. 3 trade deadline might not be the best asset management.

So, with the two-time AL Cy Young winner likely being the biggest fish up for grabs, there will be no shortage of teams keeping tabs on his services.

Nevertheless, just one of those teams might have Skubal's stamp of approval. According to USA Today's Bob Nightengale, Skubal wants to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Dodgers are Tarik Skubal's preferred destination 

“They could sit back and rely on Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki and hope that Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow return to form after coming off the IL, and All-Star Justin Wrobleski will still be fresh after already pitching a career-high 112⅔ innings,” Nightengale wrote. “Or the Dodgers could grab Skubal, knowing that they are considered his first preference, anyway, when he becomes a free agent. That would not only give them a lethal October rotation, but keep him away from the competition.”

The Dodgers could use another arm, given that Shohei Ohtani may not be back on the mound after dealing with knee inflammation.

Also, as Nightengale pointed out, there are still some injuries in their rotation.

But perhaps more importantly, the Dodgers may already have Skubal's free-agency blessing, knowing that no other team in baseball will come close to what they might be willing to pay him.

As such, while he doesn't have a no-trade clause, teams with no chance of keeping him in free agency might be hesitant to give up a lot to get him, as he'll be just an expensive rental until the end of the season.

The Dodgers might be "breaking baseball," according to some fans. But if other teams want to keep up and compete, maybe they just need to start digging into their pockets.