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When the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers ahead of this year's trade deadline, it was seen as the cherry on top for a team about to win a third consecutive championship.
With the offseason now here, the small-ball Milwaukee Brewers ended up taking home their first World Series title, and Skubal is now the most sought-after free agent of the offseason. Despite various insiders believing Skubal wants to return to the Dodgers, a lot can happen over the next month.
Only time will tell if Skubal returns come 2027, or if his price tag is too much even for the Dodgers, who proudly boast some of the biggest deals among the entirety of pro sports. ESPN's Jeff Passan recently linked the New York Mets as the most obvious suitor other than LA, while ESPN's Jorge Castillo went as far as naming them as the favorite to land the southpaw.
In the event that Skubal departs this winter, here are three backup plans for LA to address his absense.
Plan A: RHP Freddy Peralta, Tampa Bay Rays
The 30-year-old Peralta is fresh off of his ALCS MVP honors and a second half of the regular season that showed immense improvement. The former Brewer started the season off with the Mets, but after a 4.99 ERA across 113.2 innings and a negative bWAR, was dealt to Tampa Bay.
Peralta finished the regular season with a 3.25 ERA across 10 starts, and totaled a 2.95 ERA through 21.1 postseason innings. Despite a nightmare World Series start, Peralta did everything correctly in terms of trending towards becoming a rotational piece of a championship-caliber team.
According to Spotrac, the market value for the right arm of Peralta would be over $200 million for seven seasons, translating to $28.7 million AAV.
Plan B: LHP Trevor Rogers, Baltimore Orioles
Virtually any pitcher given the task of replacing Skubal in the rotation will seem like a letdown, but Rogers more so if he doesn't return to his dream 2025 season that featured a 1.81 ERA and a 5.3 bWAR. The fellow southpaw will be 29 years old this month and despite a 4.03 ERA (across a career-high 169.2 innings), can be had at a bargain — at leat by the Dodgers' standards.
According to Spotrac, the market value for Rogers will be in the ballpark of a six-year, $158 million deal, or $26.2 million AAV.
Though Rogers showed much improvement after the All-Star break, especially in terms of limiting his walks (ending the season in the 92nd percentile in terms of walk rate), the ability to toss close to 170 innings may be what is the most appealing to the Dodgers.
LA didn't have many pitchers not named Yoshinobu Yamamoto (185) get close to that figure, with left-hander Justin Wrobleski logging the second-most innings among the pitchers at 140.
Plan C: RHP Michael King, San Diego Padres
Is there anything sweeter than plucking the ace from a team in your division who has been the most competitive threat in recent memory?
King is coming off arguably his best season yet, posting a 3.21 ERA across 185 innings of work (32 starts). He was the lone bright spot in a rough Padres rotation, but the 31-year-old may have played himself out of the Padres' price range in 2026.
Spotrac projected a five-year, $149 million contract for the right-hander, close to $30 million AAV. After King opted out of the final two years and $58 million of his Padres deal, it has become increasingly clearer that he will command a mega-deal, perhaps closer to something that the Dodgers would offer.
Bonus Plan D: Do nothing.
That's right. If Skubal walks, the Dodgers can very well do nothing to address his spot in the rotation and still be a contender.
Their last two rings were won without him, and in 2024, it was done with a sparing rotation that didn't have the best injury luck by the time they limped to the Fall Classic.
The 2025 World Series was won with the addition of Blake Snell, plus Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani being healthy enough to pitch October innings.
The last two championships, however, were done with a younger team. If the Dodgers opt to spend money on youth, bats and addressing the dreary .116 batting average with runners in scoring position seen this past postseason, perhaps a Skubal-less team still makes it back to the Fall Classic again.
Here's what the Dodgers' starting pitching depth looks like heading into the offseason:
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