Dodgers trade for Tarik Skubal, fans and owners express outrage
The Dodgers are acquiring Tarik Skubal in a move that leaves some in the baseball world calling for a salary cap.
They didn’t know one another when they first became teammates three years ago, but in time, became inseparable.
They hung out together on the road. Their families became close. They were around one another in San Francisco during the summer, at their homes in Arizona during the winter, even going on a fishing trip last month in Colorado.
Now, the San Francisco Giants’ vaunted 1-2 starting tandem are spending their last hours together.
Robbie Ray will likely soon be packing his bags and heading off to a new team before Monday’s 6 p.m. ET trade deadline.
Logan Webb will be staying.
They will always remain friends, and vow to still get together during the winter with their families, but they each know it won’t be quite the same.
“It hurts,’’ Webb told USA TODAY Sports, “because I know what he means to me, and really, what he means to this whole team. It’s been such a pleasure being with him. He’s helped me tremendously.”
Ray, the former Cy Young winner and two-time All-Star is pitching just about better than anyone in baseball these days. He’s 6-0 with an MLB-best 1.09 ERA in his last eight games (seven starts) since June 16, striking out 41 batters 49 ⅓ innings. Only once during this stretch has he permitted more than one run.
He just may be the best pitcher on this trade market not named Tarik Skubal.
Ray did everything the Giants could have imagined this season, going 10-6 with a 3.08 ERA, but when the team stinks (47-63), and you’re a free agent, you’re the first to go.
“This whole year, it’s been a tough year as a team,” Ray told Giants’ reporters after his final Giants start Thursday night. “We’re not where we want to be, but I feel like I’ve put myself in a good position. I’ve gone out every day and I’ve tried to give my team a chance to win.’’
This will be the fifth time Ray will be traded, and considering how much he enjoyed San Francisco and his close relationship with Webb, one of the most painful.
“We just really connected and have become really best friends,” Ray, 34, said. “He’s awesome. We pushed each other all of the time. He makes everyone around him better. But I know we’ll stay friends. We’ll stay in touch. We live close to each other, so we’ll still spend a lot of time together.
“I’ve loved my time in San Francisco. I love the city. It’s an awesome place to pitch. I know I’m going to miss those guys.”
They looked like the 2001 Diamondbacks’ duo of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in June, combining for a 1.01 ERA. They were only the third pair of Giants’ starters to pitch at least 30 innings with a sub-1.50 in franchise history, joining Jonathan Sánchez and Madison Bumgarner in September/October 2010, and Juan Marichal and Bob Shaw in July 1965.
Webb was baseball’s best pitcher in June, yielding a 0.71 ERA in June, with a 0.61 WHIP and a .148 opponent’s batting average. He was the first Giants pitcher since Bumgarner in 2013 to pitch at least seven innings and permit two or fewer run in five consecutive starts.
They had a healthy competition, pushing one another to be the best.
“He’s helped me so much, particularly the mental side,’’ Webb said. “He’s loved by every single player and coach in this clubhouse. He’s been so good to talk to. He’s seen so many things, he’s had his ups and downs, and was the best pitcher in baseball one year. I can’t really take a lot from him mechanically, but I’ve been lucky my whole career having older pitchers who have taught me a lot.’’
Really, the moment Ray arrived in a trade from Seattle, Webb latched onto his side, wanting to learn as much as possible. He had just signed his five-year extension and knew that Ray could be around for three years. They never won a championship, never made the playoffs, or even had a winning season together – but they had one another.
“I knew right away that I wanted to get close to him,’’ Webb said, “and now we’ve become lifelong friends and stay close. I couldn’t have asked for a better guy to pitch with and be friends with. He’s just an amazing human. His family are all amazing humans, all 15 of them that they have.”
Well, the Ray family has only four children. It just seems like a flock of kids to Webb, 29, and his wife who have one daughter, 1 ½ years old, nearly the same age as Ray’s youngest daughter.
“I’ve got some catching up to do,” Webb says, laughing.
It will be awkward, Webb acknowledges, watching Ray, second baseman Luis Arraez, starter Tyler Mahle and perhaps outfielder Heliot Ramos walk out of the door before the deadline, and not come back. They’ll be gone while Webb stays. He’s the only veteran player who’s untouchable, the Giants say, with $47 million remaining on the final two years of his five-year, $90 million contract.
It hasn’t stopped teams like the Houston and Atlanta for asking about Webb’s availability, but the Giants aren’t budging, knowing if they are ever going to be a contender again, after nine losing seasons in the last 10 years, they’ll need Webb to anchor that rotation.
“It’s always tough to see friends leave,” Webb says. “I kind of dealt with it last year. [Reliever] Tyler Rogers was probably the toughest trade I had to deal with because we were in the organization so long together, and drafted one year apart. Craw [Brandon Crawford] was definitely one of the hardest ones when he left. Alex Cobb got traded. Alex Wood. I feel like I’ve made a lot of good friends while I’ve been here, so it’s always hard when you see a guy not come back.
“But, unfortunately, we’re the ones that put us in a position where things like that may happen. It’s the nature of the beast. When you don’t win, the team gets broken up.”
Webb, who grew up just 110 miles away in Rocklin, Caliornia, knows there could be a day it could happen to him, too, but, man, he would love to remain put his entire career. Derek Jeter, one of his idols growing up, played his entire 20-year career with the New York Yankees. Clayton Kershaw, his WBC teammate, played his whole career with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Buster Posey, his boss, never left the Giants.
“Growing up, that’s how it was,’’ Webb said. “More guys stayed with that one team. I definitely would love to do the same. I’m a Giant until I’m not.
“But you also want to win, too.
“And unfortunately, that hasn’t been happening.”
Around the basepaths
– It’s nearly impossible to find an owner these days who doesn’t believe there will be a prolonged work stoppage in 2027 that will shorten the season, with several believing the entire season could be wiped out.
When one owner was asked the chances of even playing next season, he responded: “Maybe 25%. No higher.”
Well, if there’s a smidge of optimism, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and Bruce Meyer, interim executive director of the players union, did have a cordial, but brief, exchange at the Hall of Fame last weekend.
– The Houston Astros jumped into the sweepstakes for Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, but realistically, would be quite pleased to acquire Robbie Ray of the San Francisco Giants.
They were on the verge of a deal with the Minnesota Twins for left-handed hitting outfielder Trevor Larnach in exchange for reliever Bryan Abreu this past week, but it was nixed by the Astros at the last minute.
– The Arizona Diamondbacks, who suddenly have surged into the No. 2 wild-card spot after winning 13 of 18 games since July 9, would love to have Washington Nationals first baseman Luis Garcia or Detroit Tigers starter Casey Mize by the end of Monday.
– The Boston Red Sox, who had resisted trade overtures for outfielder Jarren Duran in the past, now are expected to trade him this winter.
– The Tampa Bay Rays are the heavy favorite to acquire three-time batting champion Luis Arraez from the Giants.
– This should be a golden Hall of Fame ballot for managers this year with four managers expected to be on this year’s Contemporary Era non-players committee ballot: Bruce Bochy, Dusty Baker, Lou Piniella and Joe Maddon.
The only one of the quartet who didn’t manage the Chicago Cubs was Bochy, who badly wanted the Cubs’ job before it went to Piniella before the 2007 season. Bochy instead went to the Giants and won three World Series championships.
While Baker and Bochy are considered locks for the Hall of Fame election, with Baker making history as the first Black manager to be inducted, he cautions everyone:
“There ain’t no guarantees. People think I’m kidding when I’m saying that, but when Bill Belichick did not get in the [Pro Football] Hall of Fame, anything’s possible. Am I right?”
– Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, 90, says his goal is to be around in 2031 and see Dodgers great Clayton Kershaw being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
– So, what was union chief Bruce Meyer’s biggest thrill in his first trip to Cooperstown last weekend.
Meeting Koufax for the first time.
Meyer’s father and Koufax attended the same high school in Brooklyn.
– The San Francisco Giants were infuriated at the news that outfielder Harrison Bader crashed his scooter into a fire truck in the wee hours in San Francisco, with his foot being crushed and ending his season.
They refuse to pay the remaining $1.45 million left in his salary this year, and would love to void the $10 million he is owed in 2027, too.
While Bader is expected to file a grievance, it may be time for Bader to end his scooter days. In 2014, Bader was suspended for 19 games by the University of Florida’s baseball team after hitting a curb while on a scooter and hitting a truck.
– Astros third baseman Carlos Correa is trying to make a miracle comeback this season, just like the team. Correa was expected to be out for the season when he underwent surgery to repair a ruptured tendon in his left ankle in May, but his recovery is much quicker than expected. He has already begun baseball activities.
Meanwhile, the Astros, who were 20-31 on May 20 with wild speculation they would start dumping players, stayed the course and opened Saturday sitting in first place in the AL West.
– Oh, what a difference a month can make:
The Boston Red Sox entered the month of July with a 37-47 record, 13 games out of first place.
They went a franchise-record 21-4 in July, and entered August six games out of first place, and entrenched in the No. 2 wild-card spot.
– Remember when the Toronto Blue Jays DFA’d Eric Lauer, and everyone could have had him for virtually nothing?
Well, he’s 5-0 with a 2.96 ERA these days with the Dodgers winning all nine games Lauer has pitched.
“He’s been great,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said told reporters. “He was always good against us with just the makeup, the preparedness. What he’s done for us as far as giving us length, it seems like every time he pitches, we win.”
– While the New York Mets celebrated their 40-year anniversary of winning the World Series, Darryl Strawberry and several teammates were lobbying for the late Gary Carter to have his number retired. Carter played just five years with the Mets, but he was as influential as any player on that team.
“I wish his number was retired because he’s the reason we were champions,’’ former Mets’ great Darryl Strawberry told reporters. “A lot of people didn’t give him enough credit for that. They say he only played a short time. It’s not about a short time, it’s about what a player means to a team. Hopefully, one day they put his number up, too.’’
– Andre Dawson was back in Cooperstown last weekend after a three-year boycott when the Hall of Fame agreed to scrub the Montreal Expos logo of the Hall of Fame induction. Dawson wanted a Cubs logo, but the compromise was made to have no logo, which became an option to Hall of Famers in 2014 – four years after Dawson was inducted.
– San Diego Padres starter Michael King has completed at least six innings in 14 of his starts this season.
The rest of the Padres’ rotation: 9.
– It’s hard to believe that Dusty Baker has 2,183 career managerial victories, and Jeff Kent was the first Hall of Famer he managed when he was with the San Francisco Giants.
– Former All-Star pitcher Chan Ho Park, who was a pioneer for South Korean players in the major leagues, is now part of the A’s ownership group and will be a senior adviser to owner John Fisher, focusing on the club’s Asian strategy.
– Oh, what a difference a year makes.
Last year, the Twins launched a full-scale fire sale, trading 11 players at the deadline, including five relievers.
This year, finding themselves in the mix of the AL Central race, they actually are adding pieces, acquiring veteran starter Dean Kremer and veteran reliever A.J. Minter.
But if they had just hung onto closer Jhoan Duran and setup man Louis Varland, they’d be leading the AL Central by five games.
– The Kansas City Royals have received a ton of interest in starters Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo, but they rebuffed all offers, believing they need them to compete next year.
– Just how bad do the Phillies want a right-handed hitting outfielder. Their right-handed bats have produced a.221 batting average and .640 OPS, dead-last in MLB.
– The most popular reliever on the trade market in the National League is Padres left-hander Adrián Morejón, who averaged 99.4-mph on his fastball with a 27.4% strikeout rate. Has allowed a homer to just one left-handed hitter the last two seasons. And the Dodgers just happen to have five lefties in their starting lineup.
– The way the Chicago White Sox are playing, manager Will Venable might as well start clearing a spot in his trophy case for the American League Manager of the Year award. He should be a unanimous selection.
Chris Getz, vice president and GM of the White Sox, may be the leading candidate for Executive of the Year, too.
– Former World Series hero Scott Spiezio, whose book “The Hardest Comeback’’ came out last week, now is releasing a feature-length documentary on Sept. 10 in St. Louis and select theaters: SPIEZIO.
– Orioles owner David Rubensein gave a strong endorsement to Mike Elias, president of baseball operations, reiterating that his job is not in jeopardy.
“I’m very, very happy, and we couldn’t be more pleased,” Rubenstein told reporters last week. “We’ve had some injuries, but that’s not Mike’s fault. And so, in the end, we’re very pleased and we’re really, really happy to have such a talented executive leading our baseball team.”
– While the Seattle Mariners are listening to offers on starters George Kirby, Emerson Hancock and Luis Castillo for offensive help, Bryan Woo is off-limits.
Yet, at some point, the Mariners have to fix what is troubling him on the road.
Woo is 6-0 with a 2.20 ERA in nine starts at Safeco Field this season.
He is 1-8 with a 6.71 ERA in 12 starts on the road.
– Chicago Cubs All-Star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong says there is at least one glaring disadvantage to being the best player on the Cubs this season: I’m absolutely burnt out from talking to you guys [reporters]. I’m not going to lie.”
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