Wouldn't you know it? The Royals up and signed Garcia to 5-year extension w/club option for 6th season. Breakout season includes being named AL All Star & winning Gold Glove. I wonder if interest from the Dodgers had anything to do w/timely extension. Hopefully, LAD continues pursuit to acquire him.

I proposed acquiring Maikel Garcia in a trade for Teoscar Hernandez by also including top prospect Alex Freeland but highly-respected MLB writer, statistician and analyst Mike Petriello shot down that idea saying that he's "so good". And yet I can't help but be infatuated.
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...2B, 3B, SS, CF & RF while winning the Gold Glove at the hot corner this past season for Kansas City. He exhibits a strong throwing arm and broke out in 2025 with a .286 BA | .351 OBP | .449 SLG | .800 OPS and 16 home runs primarily as a line-drive hitter. He certainly fits what the Dodgers need.

Looking over the Royals' current top prospects and Major League roster, there isn't much of interest to me beyond Bobby Witt, Jr. and he's obviously untouchable. However, Maikel Garcia jumps out as quite the intriguing proposition. The 25-year-old right-hander is a versatile defender who's played...

As I've mentioned before, the Dodgers have a quartet of highly-rated prospects almost ready to play in the outfield w/respective ETAs within the next 3 years or so. In the meantime, the team needs a stopgap vet to fill an OF spot as Teoscar himself has been serving that role for LAD.

His defense has been on the decline and the Dodgers would be better off with him in left field at this point. However, Teoscar is also a coveted right-handed power bat who would likely benefit by playing more at DH on teams with an open role for that spot.

There's been more smoke around the Dodgers' attempt to trade for Tarik Skubal cited by notable bloggers and podcasters beyond just Pingalore and it seems like the Tigers front office is now fully committed to trading him before he leaves as a free agent after this coming season. Stay tuned.

I'd love to trade Teoscar to the Royals along with Alex Freeland or some other prospect for Maikel Garcia, but Kansas City probably wouldn't be inclined to pull the trigger.

The White Sox should look at the Cardinals' handling of Nolan Arenado to see what to expect with Luis Robert, Jr. The Cards tried to dump Arenado for the past 4 years or so and only came close once before Arenado himself voided the deal. Similarly, the ChiSox are not going to find much interest.

Another trade candidate would be Luis Robert, Jr., whom I was interested in pursuing last off-season and even this past trade deadline. However, the White Sox are still holding out for a big return for him despite the fact that he was injured yet again. At this point, it's not worth the grief.

If the Dodgers sign Tucker to a 3-4 year contract, that would satisfy the 3rd bullet point on my 2025 To-Do List despite not being a trade. I think it's highly unlikely as I anticipate for him to sign a long-term deal w/the Blue Jays, Mets, Yankees or maybe even the Giants.
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The Red Sox are supposedly willing to give up either Jarren Duran or Wilyer Abreu. I'd rather have Abreu who's a better defender albeit in right field. This way, we can at least push Teoscar Hernandez to left field towards mitigating his inconsistent OF defense.

...Duran may be a speedster but he takes inefficient routes in the outfield and has a weak arm, to boot. Not exactly the ideal candidate for CF. Plus, he broke out 2 seasons ago and struggled a bit last season and still exhibits quite a bit of swing-and-miss w/o exhibiting that much power.

I still think a Buxton or Kwan trade can happen but I'm also not interested in overpaying in assets for stopgap measure albeit ones as talented as either of those two. A trade for Jarren Duran also doesn't appeal to me neither. First, the Red Sox are reportedly asking a lot for him. Second...

...avoid being Arte Moreno, who lost Shohei Ohtani for nothing by changing his mind about trading the Japanese superstar before he hit free agency. While I'd prefer that the Dodgers wait a year to sign Skubal outright, I'd venture to guess that the trade is 70% likely to happen before the season.

In this case, I expect the biggest obstacle for the trade will be whether or not Skubal will want to agree to extension. The Dodgers will not trade the farm, as it were, for a rental. Tigers ownership will eventually come to its senses and make the hard decision to pull the trigger in order to...

...if not the friendliest and most advanced teams w/respect to calculating players' values in contract negotiations. There's a point where a long-term deal would not make sense for the org, which is why LAD typically favors short-term contracts. However, there are exceptions to the rule like Ohtani.

...the Tigers are very unlikely to get nearly the same haul that the Dodgers would give them for acquiring Skubal with an accompanying extension agreement. Boras pushes his clients towards free agency because he wants to maximize the dollar value of his clients' contracts. The Dodgers are one of...

The other noted hurdle would be getting ownership approval from the Detroit Tigers ownership. While DET has been schizophrenic in terms of wanting to deal Tarik Skubal, their backs are practically against the wall now. Sure, they can wait until the trade deadline for this upcoming season, but...