Angels broadcaster Wayne Randazzo said what most fans were thinking about Tarik Skubal trade

If you are a Los Angeles Angels fan and think that the sport of baseball is broken, the news that the Dodgers traded for Tarik Skubal probably did little to change your mind. While the idea that the Dodgers didn't give up anything for Skubal is definitely an exaggeration, the fact remains that LA just added arguably the best pitcher in baseball, and it didn't even cost them their best prospect. However you choose to look at it, that is depressing...especially for the cross-town Angels who already had to watch the Dodgers steal Shohei Ohtani from them.

You will not have to look hard to find experts and fans alike bemoaning the state of baseball right now in the wake of the Skubal trade. The Dodgers might be the most hated team in professional sports at the moment, and the Tigers are climbing the charts for letting the Dodgers have Skubal. However, the best encapsulation of how many people are feeling right now came from Angels announcer Wayne Randazzo, who took the rest of the league to task for letting this happen.

Wayne Randazzo just put the rest of the league on blast for not stepping up to trade for Tarik Skubal (and he is probably right)

Now, Randazzo was not saying that ANY team in baseball could have acquired Skubal. Some teams just don't have the farm system to be in the conversation and/or don't have the financial resources to commit to his salary (although the latter is often the result of mistakes and self-imposed limitations). That speaks to the inequity in the sport at the moment, but that isn't the point.

What Randazzo WAS saying was that a lot of teams had more than enough tradeable assets to beat the Dodgers' offer. Sure, Skubal is a rental, and that should limit how much he should cost, but he is also Tarik freaking Skubal, a starter who can (and often does) carry his team every time he takes the mound. Why was it that only the Dodgers were willing to step up and make it happen?

The truth is that "winning at all costs" isn't in the baseball lexicon anymore. Teams value cost-controlled talent and their bottom lines more than their place in the standings. The Dodgers print so much money that they can just throw money at their problems with little regard for the consequences for the rest of the league. The result is a team that consolidates the big-time talent, with the remaining teams having to hope that enough scraps fall their way to make things interesting enough to keep their fans interested without costing them too much.

It isn't healthy and everyone, including the Dodgers, knows it. At some point, something has to give, and the rest of the league needs to start operating in ways that at least create some level of parity. As Randazzo said it best, "this is an open market," and the rest of baseball needs to start acting like it.

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