Tarik Skubal Trade Exposes Baseball’s Broken System and Its Two Main Hurdles

In a provocative column, Mike Vaccaro argues that Tarik Skubal’s trade highlights MLB’s broken market, driven by power imbalances between owners and players and a structure that rewards short-term wins over long-term health. He identifies two entrenched battles blocking reform: owners’ profit-driven leverage in trades and contract structures, and the players’ union protections that slow meaningful change, making real fixes to how talent is valued and moved unlikely in the near term.