This Blockbuster Trade Package Sends Tarik Skubal, Spencer Torkelson To Padres

The San Diego Padres are struggling to win baseball games right now, and the team has dropped 11 of its last 13 dating back to May 24.

It’s gotten to the point that the Padres have fallen out of a playoff spot and sit a half-game out of the National League wild card picture. At 33-31, San Diego is eight games back from the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the NL West.

The offense isn’t scoring enough runs, and the pitching staff isn’t keeping runs off the board. The Padres have a minus-18 run differential and desperately need to find answers sooner rather than later.

What would be a better answer than trading for the reigning back-to-back American League Cy Young winner and top trade deadline chip?

Detroit Tigers lefty Tarik Skubal is on his way back from having surgery to remove loose bodies from his pitching elbow, and given the state of the Tigers right now, all signs point to the team reaping the benefits of moving him instead of getting nothing for him if he leaves in free agency.

While the Padres seem like sellers at this time, there is still plenty of baseball left to be played, and the team very well could play itself into being buyers. ESPN staff put together nine trade proposals that could pry Skubal from Detroit, and Alden Gonzalez drew this up:

Padres receive Skubal and first baseman Spencer Torkelson in exchange for right-handed reliever Jeremiah Estrada and prospect catcher Ethan Salas, left-hander Kruz Schoolcraft and right-hander Bryan Balzer.

“The Padres desperately need an ace and, in A.J. Preller, employ a general manager who covets stars more than anyone,” Gonzalez wrote Monday. “It's a perfect fit -- until you consider how bare San Diego's prospect cupboard has become in recent years.”

In order to bring in Major League Baseball’s top closer, Mason Miller, Preller had to give the Athletics top prospect shortstop Leo De Vries as well as right-handers Braden Nett, Henry Baez and Eduarniel Nunez.

That trade has left the prospect pool barren, but the Padres have one of if not the best bullpen in the league as a result of it. Adding Skubal would give the starting rotation a huge jolt, but it wouldn’t directly fix the offense; although the general manager going out and getting the best player available could have that effect on the offense.

ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel thinks this trade is unlikely to happen, though he believes if Detroit was actually offered this package, it wouldn’t be able to turn it down unless the Dodgers step in and throw its weight around (which is likely). Salas is an amazing prospect and the pitching prospects could be something, while Estrada is a great reliever with years of control.