ESPN’s Jeff Passan Talks Skubal Trade, NL Cy Young Race & More with Rich

Jeff Passan arrived in a camel-hair coat in the middle of a Kansas City summer, owned the smug-prick energy of the photo the show dug up, and then got down to one of the best baseball conversations of the year.

He started with the National League Cy Young race, which he won't call the greatest ever with half a season left but admitted has been incredible. Cristopher Sanchez ran off 50 and two-thirds consecutive scoreless innings, Shohei Ohtani's ERA only crept over one, and Jacob Misiorowski has evolved into a fire-breathing creature unlike anything anyone's seen. The wild part, Passan said, is that Misiorowski was a second-round pick out of junior college, dropped because teams projected the 6-foot-7 righty as a reliever, doubting his ability to repeat a delivery with levers that long. Point to Randy Johnson, Passan said, and he'll call him an outlier you don't bet on.

What changed is relentless work plus the Brewers' development machine, the same system that produced Jackson Chourio, Freddy Peralta, Corbin Burnes, and Brandon Woodruff, and now has Misiorowski alongside top overall prospect Jesus Montero. The proof is a nine-inning, one-hit, no-walk, 15-strikeout game on 95 pitches that Passan called maybe the best of the decade, plus an outing where Misiorowski averaged 103.7 mph in the first inning and over 102 in the ninth of his first complete game. Justin Verlander pumping 100 in the ninth is impressive, Passan said. Misiorowski sitting 102 there is the personification of baseball's velocity evolution.

In the American League, Passan explained how Tarik Skubal came back so fast: a nanoscope, a tiny camera that removes a bone chip with minimal trauma, had him throwing 99.9 mph a month after surgery. With the Tigers 14 games under .500, the back-to-back Cy Young winner is almost certainly getting traded, and the net, Passan said, covers the entire baseball ocean, because everyone can use the guy you'd pick for one must-win game. The Dodgers are best positioned even with Ohtani, Yamamoto, and Verlander, and the Yankees would pay a hefty sum too.

The catch is that Skubal won't sign an extension, so teams must treat him as a two-month rental plus October and price offers accordingly, with a long-term deal sure to top $400 million whether or not a salary cap arrives. Passan called it imprudent to make decisions now based on a system that's never existed, noting the show recently had Tom Glavine on to discuss the eerie parallels to the 1994 strike. Tigers GM Scott Harris, he said, will simply take the best offer. And the Dodgers' edge undercuts the evil-empire narrative: they own a top-three farm system despite picking late every year, turning trades like Gavin Lux for Mike Sirota into gold. They draft, sign, and develop like the Brewers and Rays, just with the biggest payroll behind them. That's how you build a dynasty.

Passan also previewed his ESPN.com list of 100 trade candidates, floating whether Byron Buxton might waive his no-trade protection or the Astros could move Jeremy Peña. His favorite stories were the surprises: a Washington team he expected to stink leading baseball in runs, and a Chicago White Sox club that lost 121 games two years ago now sitting in first place in the AL Central, powered by a young core and the winter's best signing in Munetaka Murakami. On the Yankees, Passan agreed they're the AL measuring stick but indulged Rich's bullpen envy, the kind every team feels watching the Brewers churn out unhittable arms, while counseling patience on converting a talented starter into a late-inning weapon before the playoffs.