The idea of acquiring the back-to-back American League Cy Young Award winner is tempting for a lot of teams, and the Boston Red Sox may be among the few with the means to make it happen.

Tarik Skubal may very well stay with the Detroit Tigers for his last year before free agency, but the possibility of a trade can’t be ignored. The two sides seem to be miles apart on a potential contract extension — even if the 29-year-old disputes the numbers — and some might view losing him in free agency without capitalizing on his value in a trade as a failure.

So, assuming the Tigers make the gutsy decision to deal Skubal, is the door wide open for the Red Sox to swoop in? Well, not exactly, says one insider.

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Red Sox strongly cautioned against Skubal trade

On Friday, MassLive’s Sean McAdam pointed out several reasons why he believed a Skubal trade doesn’t make sense for the Red Sox based on where they are in their timeline for trying to win a championship.

“If the Sox — or other teams — were getting two years of control of Skubal, it might be something to consider,” McAdam wrote. “But for a single season? What if Skubal has a minor injury — something that could hardly be ruled out? Then, the Red Sox would be looking at perhaps 25 starts in exchange for at least three top prospects.

“While they qualified for the postseason last year for the first time since 2021 and are viewed as a team on the ascent, are they good enough to go from losing in the wild card round to actually competing for a World Series title — even allowing for Skubal’s brilliance? In other words: is Skubal so good that he can lift a team from 89 wins and a third-place finish to a pennant winner? Doubtful.”

The simple reality is that trading for Skubal would be going for broke. And as much as some fans might want the Red Sox to operate like the New York Yankees (who made a similar trade like this for Juan Soto), the fact is that they haven’t in quite some time.

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