This is WAY more real than we thought...

This is way more real than any of us thought, as Ben Nicholson-Smith just dropped a huge report surrounding the Jays and their pursuit of Tarik Skubal, and it has revealed some wild details that give insight not only to how much money the front office is willing to give Tarik Skubal, how far they're willing to go all in for him, but some details that date back to last spring training that reveal, folks, that Skubal is a lot closer to the Jays. than fans think, we're going to break all that down as well as a bunch of other updates as this is going to be a crazy month and this report and the story I'm about to tell is extremely wild. Let's quickly give some context to what I just said. Back in March, a lefty, Tarek Skubal, struck out seven Blue Jays in his spring training game in Dunedin when he went up against Max Scherzer. Then after the game, he walked into the Toronto Blue Jays gym. Yes, the Jays let Tarek Skubal lift in their own facility. And that day he met Max Scherzer for the first time and talked about pitching. Eight months later, he's the best free agent in the market with two Cy Young awards. And even last week, photos came out of him training in Arizona. with fellow Blue Jay Bowden Francis. Folks, there is a lot to this story and there's a lot more ties than even I had any idea about. Let's start with the place. Tarik Skubal has spent every spring training of his career in Florida with the Tigers, so he knows the Dunedin area. And after that start that I just mentioned, the Jays opened up their recently renovated complex to him, so he knows their facilities in Florida and in Toronto as well, better than almost any free agent out there. His relationship with Bowden Francis, it goes beyond just being a random teammate or former teammate. He's coming back from Tommy John surgery and could be in the Jays rotation in 2027. And they've been working out together at a training facility called Apex. Then we look at the agent of Tarik Skubal, Scott Boras. He, of course, represents Skubal. But not only that, he also represents Max Scherzer, Dylan Cease. Kazuma Okamoto and we know if you've been following the channel and following the Jays for a while the link of Scott Boris and the Blue Jays I mean that relationship has been developing in a very positive manner so much so that Cease and Okamoto both signed in Toronto last year and Boris has heavily praised the Jays as of late. Even went as far as to say this at last year's GM meetings, Toronto is one of the top four or five major markets in the MLB, and I think we'll see the ownership commitment and every bit of behavior to support and advance that. And then, of course, weeks after his comments there, the Jays signed the biggest free agent deal in franchise history, inking close to that seven-year $210 million deal. Now, this winter, Boras' clientele includes Skubal, Randy Arozarena, and Kaima Terra, and Sportsnet says the Jays are interested in all three Now, let's be realistic. Nobody signs a $300 million deal because he lifted weights in your gym. But all of this stuff matters, and it matters a lot more than people think. When you pair the gym, when you pair the relationship, his familiarity with the facility, and maybe most importantly, the Toronto Blue Jays' willingness to spend on a megastar, I think it's a lot more real than any of us thought. And obviously, when you look at what this team needs the most, the answer is probably offense. But there is a strong case to be made that they need another dominant starting pitcher to pair with Dylan Cease, because when we look at how kind of the season went, obviously offense is the number one thing. You have the money, potentially the last time before a salary cap, get the deal done, and I would go all in after Tarik Skubal. And we're all super familiar to these, you know, these megastar contracts. 2023, Shohei Ohtani, Toronto's final offer was $700 million. 2024, Juan Soto, Toronto also offered $600 million last winter. The Jays offered $350 million for Kyle Tucker. And the Jays have now for years in a row offered megastar money. So it's clearly. Isn't a team that's not gonna pay. It's just a team that is very strategic and ultimately, will they go out and be the favorites to land Tarik Skubal? I wouldn't think so, but as we know in the past few years, it goes from not favorites to favorites to either missing out or getting the job done. So why would they want to pursue Tarik Skubal and why would they want to do it this offseason? In 2024, he had a 2.39 ERA and won the Cy Young. In 2025, a 2.21 ERA and then he won it again. This past year was a little bit messier. A procedure in his left elbow in June obviously had that. The injury with the Tigers got traded to the Dodgers and he still finished with a 2.72 ERA in nearly 160 innings. And he never beats himself. His walk rate was only 3.6, which is better than 96% of the league. He has obviously insane fastball of He tops out at 96.8 miles an hour, has one of the best, if not the best, change-ups in the big leagues, which he threw 26% of the time this year, and he's dominated in Toronto in his career. Three career starts, a 2.57 ERA, and 17 strikeouts in 14 innings, including his 1,000th strikeout back in July, which is the fastest of any pitcher in Tigers history. Now look at the Jays. One year after Game 7 of the World Series, last in the AL East, in the rotation, it does have some holes. Are they going to bring back Shane Bieber and Max Scherzer? We don't really know. Jose Brios has an opt-out. We don't know what's happening there. There's uncertainty with Cody Ponce. There is still a hole in this rotation, and obviously it's a little bit less pressing than, let's say, getting an offensive bat, but it's still very, very important. And like Ben Nicholson-Smith said, the rotation isn't their biggest need on paper, but Skubal offers the greatest potential impact. So can they actually pay him? The answer is obviously yes. Mark Shapiro said this about the payroll. My expectation is we'll be in a similar area of support and resources. And right now the Jays have about $207.9 million committed for 2027. They're willing to go well over that $247 million luxury tax threshold, or luxury tax threshold, sorry. And projections for Skubal right now are about eight years and $355 million. Now 355 million would also beat the record for a starting pitcher. Yoshinobu Yamamoto currently holds that at 325 million and that 44.6 million dollars a year would beat the record for an average pitcher's salary. And who holds a share of that record? Max Scherzer, the guy that met of course Tarik Skubal last year in the Jays gym. Now there is a lot of money coming off and about 80 million plus off of the books and with the of course pending lockout here this could be an opportunity for the Jays to get their long-term business done early. Which, again, if you're Toronto, that's the argument. To spend now before the rules change. And he does fit very, very nicely into this team. He wants to win games. He wants to win a World Series. And he just came from the Dodgers. He got swept by the Brewers. I think I'm going after him if I'm the Jays. Unlike previous years, the Tani were dragged down into December. A lot of these guys, I mean, Juan Soto, December. Obviously, I mean, Roki Sasaki, it was January. They don't have that long to decide. The labor deal expires in December 1st. A lockout is expected, and ESPN's Jeff Passan expects Tarik Skubal to sign before the lockdown. And Scott Boras is familiar with this. Before the last lockout in 2021, he used that deadline to get Corey Seager and Marcus Semien paid. We, of course, remember Marcus Semien, 45 home runs in that one-year deal. He then hired Boris and signed for seven years and $175 million in Texas before the lockout. If the Jays meet Skubal in person before lockout, Sportsnet calls that a sign of mutual interest. When I refer to Sportsnet, I'm referring to Ben Nicholson-Smith because they did meet in person with both Tucker and Framber Valdez last winter. They signed neither, but the interest is real. Now, there are some teams in the way, one of them being the Dodgers. They beat Toronto out for Otani. They beat Toronto out for Tucker. And they beat Toronto in Game 7 of the World Series. And he's currently a Dodger, right? After the trade, he made 10 starts with a 2.61 ERA. They gave up multiple top 100 prospects. And Blake Snell says he talks to him every day. And he said, I want nothing more for him than to be a Dodger. There's also New York. Sportsnet says that many believe the Mets are the most likely team to outbid everyone. And obviously a lot of that comes down to Steve Cohen, but John Heyman also says the Mets are very interested. We haven't heard a lot of rumblings about the Jays yet, though this will, I assume, pick up pretty quickly. So folks, is it real? I think it's absolutely very, very real. The Jays are always going to be discounted in these races because of the fact they were unable to sign some of the big free agents. But when you look at it, and I mean, again, the article dropped, the report dropped from Ben Nicholson-Smith, it's a lot more real than fans are giving it credit for. And I understand why, because we're going to be heartbroken again, you know, on the plane. I'm not saying it's likely that the Jays get Skubal. It's absolutely not likely, but I think it's very possible, right? The Dodgers and Mets are probably theoretically ahead, but if the Dodgers don't want to get in a bidding war, if the Mets, I mean, if Skubal wants to win games, The Mets probably aren't the way to go. With the impending lockout here, things could maybe finally take a turn and go on the Jays' side. And Ross Atkins does talk to reporters at the GM meetings in Las Vegas tomorrow, so we'll have to continue to keep you up to date with all of that. The big question will be, if Scooble doesn't sign in Toronto, where does he sign? Probably the Dodgers or the Mets, because one of these winters, I think Toronto is going to get one of their big names. Now, they got Dylan Cease last year, who was a big name, but this is a megastar. And comment down below, do you think the Jays are going to get him, or do you think this is just another Shohei Ohtani situation?