Trying to figure out which teams are most likely to trade for Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal? Start with the ones in the best position to land a first-round bye.Right now, those teams would be the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves in the National League, the New York Yankees and one of the two American League Central leaders, the Chicago White Sox or Cleveland Guardians, in the AL.A team playing mostly for a wild card likely would be more hesitant to part with the prospects and cash necessary to rent Skubal, who still will be owed nearly $10 million at the deadline.A bye, on the other hand, increases a team’s odds of winning a World Series, as Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said earlier this month.“Getting a bye is such a big deal,” Hoyer said. “It’s effectively not only winning one round but also, by getting a bye, in theory, you’re playing an opponent that should be in a lesser state.”The races for the byes are too close to predict. The Milwaukee Brewers trail the Braves by only a half-game for the second NL berth. The Mariners are only one and a half games behind the White Sox and Guardians in the AL. And, with the deadline still six and a half weeks away, so much can change.The Dodgers certainly have the prospects to land Skubal, but hate overpaying at the deadline. Besides, their pitching staff might be in excellent shape, if starters Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow and relievers Edwin Díaz, Brock Stewart and Evan Phillips make effective returns from the injured list.The Yankees, once Max Fried is back, might be in a position of similar depth with their pitching. The Guardians and White Sox probably would not be willing to pay the acquisition cost for Skubal. Ditto for the Brewers, as detailed in a previous column.The Braves, who continue to deal with injuries in their rotation, are more intriguing.During the offseason, a number of websites ranked the Atlanta farm system as one of the worst in the league. MLB.com had the Braves 24th. FanGraphs and The Athletic’s Keith Law both had them 27th.Braves officials, however, believe the system is the deepest and most balanced it has been in a while, perhaps even worthy of a top-10 ranking. And the Braves will get an additional boost next month when they select ninth and 26th in the amateur draft.The Mariners seemingly would be another possibility for Skubal, but do not expect to pursue the former Seattle University standout, according to people briefed on their plans.While Skubal would be an upgrade for any rotation, the Mariners currently are using a piggyback system to keep all six of their starters stretched out. A seventh rotation candidate, left-hander Kade Anderson, is dominating Double A less than a year after joining the organization as the third overall pick in the amateur draft.All of the Mariners’ starters are under club control beyond this season. Trading one might be the only way for them to both satisfy the Tigers and clear a spot for Skubal. But in the Mariners’ current view, it would make little sense to acquire Skubal for two or three months by parting with two additional years of club control with righty Logan Gilbert or three with righty George Kirby.True, Skubal is the reigning back-to-back American League Cy Young Award winner, a pitcher who can help a team win a World Series. But Kirby and Gilbert aren’t exactly slouches. Kirby made the All-Star team in 2023, Gilbert in ’24.Some team will trade for Skubal. Which one is far from clear.Pirates could move comp pickThe most likely trades to happen in the next few weeks are ones that involve competitive-balance draft picks. Teams that acquire them would gain not only an additional selection in the upcoming amateur draft, but also extra bonus pool money.Competitive-balance picks are the only ones that can be traded. The Pittsburgh Pirates hold one of them, No. 34 overall. Rival clubs say they are open to trading it.The pick is not the only chip the Pirates are putting in play, according to people briefed on their discussions. The team also is willing to trade prospects. And it is not limiting their search for potential upgrades to bullpen help, though that is the club’s biggest area of need.The Pirates made their first move to supplement their relief corps Thursday night, acquiring right-hander Hunter Stratton from the Braves for catcher Joey Bart. It does not figure to be their last.In each of the past two seasons, a team has traded a competitive-balance pick for a reliever, establishing precedents for the kind of deal the Pirates could end up making.In 2024, the Kansas City Royals traded third baseman Cayden Wallace and the No. 39 selection to the Washington Nationals for right-hander Hunter Harvey.Last season, the Tampa Bay Rays traded the No. 37 choice to the Baltimore Orioles for righty Bryan Baker. The Orioles took outfielder Slater de Brun with that pick, and the Rays effectively recouped it by acquiring de Brun last December as part of their package for righty Shane Baz.Miz magicIn the middle of Jacob Misiorowski’s 15-strikeout, one-hit shutout of the Philadelphia Phillies last Friday night, Phillies manager Don Mattingly turned to ace right-hander Zack Wheeler.“Wheels, this is what it looked like whenever you came to Miami and we had you and (Jacob) deGrom back-to-back,” said Mattingly, who managed the Marlins from 2016 to ‘22.Wheeler begged to differ.“I keep telling people I wish I was that in sync with my body at his age,” Wheeler said. “It would have been a whole different game for me.”How did The Miz get this good, this fast?Derek VanRiper and Eno SarrisMisiorowski, 24, will be back at it Friday night, facing the Braves in Atlanta. As The Athletic’s Jayson Stark writes, he might be the hardest thrower ever. Wheeler said, “I feel like he can throw fastballs every pitch if he really wanted to.”What is it about The Miz’s delivery that Wheeler so admires?“Just how fluid he is. There are no glitches, no stops or anything like that,” Wheeler said. “When he picks up and goes, everything is just perfect motion.“He’s behind the ball, over his front leg, driving through the ball. I’ve caught myself a couple of times just looking at his clips, just to kind of remind myself, that’s how I want to be. Sometimes, I can get a little too robotic. I watch him or deGrom and think, ‘I need to move like that again.’”Among his many gifts, Misiorowski uses his 6-foot-7 frame to release the ball closer to home plate than virtually every other pitcher in baseball.His average fastball velocity is 100.1 mph. But his extension is 7 feet, 5 inches, a foot longer than the major-league average, making the pitch appear even faster. His average perceived velocity, according to Statcast, is 102.4 mph.Wheeler is 6-foot-4. His extension of 7 feet, 2 inches is in the top 4 percent of the league. So he, too, gains a perceived advantage — a jump of 1.7 mph from his average fastball velocity of 95.1.“Some guys, they’ve got the height, they just don’t get out there,” Wheeler said. “It just plays different when you get out there.”Forget my bullpen, I just got moved!One of my favorite things to do is ask a player who was traded how he got the news. Left-hander Shane Drohan, part of the Brewers’ return from the Boston Red Sox for infielder Caleb Durbin and others, had a doozy of a story.On Feb. 9, Drohan was at the Red Sox’s training facility in Ft. Myers, Fla. He was scheduled to throw a bullpen that day. But first, he needed to take his physical.Drohan, 27, had just finished his EKG when Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey intercepted him. Bailey asked if he was almost done with his physical. Drohan said not yet. Bailey told him he needed to see manager Alex Cora and assistant general manager Eddie Romero, right away.“As I’m walking down the hallway, I’m like, I either got traded or this is the fastest anyone has been optioned back to minor-league camp,” Drohan said.It turned out to be the former.After getting the news, Drohan circulated through the clubhouse, saying his goodbyes. Dan DeLucia, the Red Sox Triple-A pitching coach, approached him and asked, “OK, today for your bullpen, what are we working on?”“We’re not working on anything, man,” Drohan replied. “I got traded.”One more note on the deal:The Brewers originally targeted only Drohan and left-hander Kyle Harrison for Durbin, according to a person briefed on the discussions. After deciding they also wanted infielder David Hamilton, they expanded the package, sending the Red Sox infielder Andruw Monasterio, outfielder Anthony Seigler and their competitive balance pick, 67th overall, as well.Drohan has a 3.40 ERA in 47 2/3 innings. Harrison’s 2.47 ERA in 65 2/3 innings was inflated by the eight runs he allowed at elevation in Las Vegas. Hamilton’s OPS is only .629, but the Brewers value his defense and baserunning.Durbin to this point has been a disappointment, batting .192 with a .573 OPS.Call him King KurtzThe A’s six-game homestand at their Triple A park in Las Vegas produced some hard-to-believe home runs. But the one Brewers manager Pat Murphy was still talking about three days later was not a 3,000-feet-above-sea-level special. No, it was a demonstration of Nick Kurtz’s unique hitting talent.The home run in question was a two-run shot in the bottom of the 10th inning on June 8, cutting the Brewers’ lead to 14-13. With the count 2-2, Murphy was astonished to see Kurtz go deep on a 99-mph fastball from Brewers right-hander Aaron Ashby, up and in.“The ball was above the strike zone — above the strike zone and in at 99,” Murphy said. “The kid is 6-foot-5 and he’s got long levers and he hits it straight as a string. Not a hook job. A straight-as-a-string missile.