Rays' trade deadline update gets massive Tarik Skubal, Shohei Ohtani forecast

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Rays' trade deadline update gets massive Tarik Skubal, Shohei Ohtani forecast originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Tampa Bay Rays are looking to win their first AL East title since 2021.

To do so, they'll need to outplay the New York Yankees the rest of the way. Currently, Tampa Bay is 1.5 games behind the Yankees.

The other three teams in the division are much further down the standings and would need a late-season surge to make serious noise.

This year's trade deadline may be as important to the Rays as any other club in the Majors. The Athletic's Jim Bowden wrote Tuesday that their past aggressiveness to acquire superstar players could be an indication of their approach.

"The Rays are always the stealthy trade partner because behind the scenes, they’re always at least trying on top players like Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani, especially if they are superstars with the makeup and character to match, like those two," Bowden wrote. "Don’t be surprised if they’re a sleeper team on Tarik Skubal if he’s traded."

Adding Skubal to the rotation would instantly make the Rays an even tougher out in the postseason and a nightmare in a three-game Wild Card Series scenario.

Bowden believes that the Rays' president of baseball operations, Erik Neander, would be willing to offload top prospects in the farm system to make a significant upgrade to the Major League roster.

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"I don’t think Neander has any untouchable prospects in his system at this point given the right trade," Bowden added.

That kind of mindset could help the Rays land a player like Skubal in a trade. Obviously, their free agent pitches to Ohtani and Freeman were not successful.

But that doesn't appear to stop the Rays from trying to acquire talent in other ways in what they hope is a championship year.

More MLB news:​

• 5 reasons to believe in Jordan Walker's breakout for Cardinals
• Ex-MLB GM projects White Sox to sell at trade deadline despite 2026 success
• Tarik Skubal being traded by Tigers would help him in free agency
• Cubs’ cost to trade for Tarik Skubal from Tigers revealed by ex-MLB GM
• Yankees’ Ryan McMahon problem has a $25 million release solution

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