New Tarik Skubal Rumors on 'Most Obvious' MLB FA Suitors, Timeline for Dodgers Star to Sign Contract

Los Angeles Dodgers star pitcher Tarik Skubal is expected to be the top free agent on the market this winter, but it reportedly won't take him too long to find a deal.

ESPN's Jeff Passan reported that "the expectation" is that Skubal will sign with a team before the Dec. 1 lockout, and he went on to reveal the favorites to land him.

"The two most obvious suitors are the two teams with the highest payrolls in baseball: The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets. There are bound to be others," Passan stated. "The Chicago Cubs badly want Skubal. They also are skeptical that they will be willing to compete at the sort of dollars Skubal is expected to get -- well in excess of $300 million, potentially in the $400 million-plus range. With Michael King and Nick Pivetta being free agents, the San Diego Padres need a rotation anchor, and arguably the best pitcher in baseball would more than suffice."

Predicting Early Signings in Free Agency 🔮

Picking Every MLB Team's MVP, Cy Young and ROY 🏆

Make Bleacher Report one of your preferred sources on Google by selecting Bleacher Report on the "source preferences" page here .

For more from Bleacher Report, check out our B/R app , homepage and social feeds—including Twitter , Instagram , Facebook , TikTok and YouTube .