CHICAGO (AP) — Tarik Skubal wants to be “a chameleon in a sense” with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Blending in is normally quite difficult for a player with two Cy Young Awards, but Los Angeles isn’t exactly a normal team.Skubal is learning his way around the loaded Dodgers after he was acquired in a blockbuster trade with Detroit on Saturday night. The left-hander will make his first start for the two-time defending World Series champions on Tuesday night against the Chicago Cubs.“The entire focus of this organization is on winning championships, and that’s my entire focus of playing baseball,” Skubal said Monday in his first public comments since the Dodgers announced the trade, “so we’re very much aligned and I’m ready to go out there and compete and give this organization and city everything that I’ve got.”Skubal joins a rotation that also includes All-Stars Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Justin Wrobleski, to go along with Roki Sasaki and Eric Lauer. Shohei Ohtani is slated to play catch this week as he continues his recovery from left knee soreness and a right biceps injury. Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow also are working their way back from injuries.
Los Angeles acquired Kris Bubic in a trade with Kansas City in the runup to Monday’s deadline, but the lefty is on the 60-day injured list with shoulder and elbow issues.Emmet Sheehan was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City before the Dodgers’ series opener against the Cubs. The 26-year-old right-hander was 1-7 with a 5.98 ERA in his last 10 starts.
