Can the Detroit Tigers AFFORD Tarik Skubal?
Scuboo really the overwhelming Sai Young winner two in a row doesn’t happen often. Let’s talk about what that means for Detroit because again that became the lead story. What do the Tigers do now that he’s won his second Sai Young? Do you think that Chris Illich the owner of the Tigers was not ready for the fact that Scooble was going to win the Sai Young? Scubble was the favorite to win the Sai Young ever since the All-Star game, frankly, when Skins and Scooble faced each other, becoming the first set of all-star starters to bring it home with Sai Young since 01 when Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens did it. The Tigers, like the Pirates, were very well aware that Scuba was entering his final year of arbitration. They’ve been well aware for the last two years what his arbitration number is likely to be this year. Spoiler alert, it’s going to be a big number. Like, it’s going to start with a two and it won’t be the low 20s. The Detroit Tigers have been figuring out their payroll for 2026, not since last October, like last month after they were eliminated. They’ve been working on future payrolls for years. What would change their mind? When we had a five plus player, position player or pitcher, we had made a decision about what we were going to do with that player before the off season even started. We didn’t want to be tempted because believe me, teams are going to tempt the Tigers with trades for scuba. They’re going to offer multiplayer packages ready for the big league pitchers plus young ready position players. You’re talking about the second most valuable asset in baseball. Skins being the first. The reason Scubble’s second is he only has a year until free agency. There are teams who will approach Detroit and say, “Give us a window to negotiate.” But Scooble’s agent is Scott Boris. There is no scenario that Scooble will agree to a long-term deal with Detroit right now. No matter what Scott Boris said, and we’ll get to what he said about Scooball in a moment, the reality is that you have to know what your plan is while you remain flexible given if there is some sort of thing in the market that happens that you didn’t expect. That didn’t happen very often in my career because if you’ve got an asset like Scubble, you are writing down every single trade you would do with every single team. You’ve got an entire division of pro scouts whose job is to know every single organization. You have met with your baseball people. You have written down 29 teams, 29 trade packages. When someone calls on Scooble, you respond with the package you would do. It may not be 29 of them. You may have gone through the best packages possible on every team and decided there are seven trades that we would do as is. When you’re called as a GM, when you’ve got a five plus asset, you take that call. You answer with the exact trade you would make. If the Tigers get an overpay that would bring you into night sweats, they’ll move Scooble regardless of what Boris says or the fans say because it’s the right baseball deal to make. I’m extremely happy to tell you that Skings and Scoo are starters you should be watching. There are a bunch of must-sea pitchers in Major League Baseball. It’s an exciting time. There’s a labor part of all of this as well because 2027 could be a work stoppage which would be Scoo’s first year as a free agent. And the thing about work stoppages is that players get a year older if you miss a year. And when you’re a pitcher, you don’t want to miss a year of your prime. It impacts your earnings potential. Does it mean that Scuba would sign a long-term deal today that he wouldn’t normally? My answer to all of you is no. Do not think that the labor situation that exists with the agreement running out is going to cause these players, especially Boris players, to do anything out of character, to take any sort of discount because of their concern about a work stoppage. The union won’t allow it.
#tigers #baseball #MLB
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5 comments
No they can’t
As a Tigers fan, I know that they will not/cannot sign Skubal long-term. I just hope they get something out of him either on the field or in trades.
He was born near San Francisco and went to college in Seattle. A hometown discount should be reserved for either of those two cities/teams.
Skubal is so good but also sooooo scary to sign long term. He already had a TJ in 2017. And the arm usually only holds up for 5-8 years after the first TJ and the success rate of a second TJ is only around 30-40% in terms of still being able to pitch at the same level for 170-220 innings a year. Ohtani had his second but the Dodgers only need 100 innings from him a season max. He should still be able to get 300 million but Boras think he is worth 500 million. If a team does that then RIP to their organization when his arm finally gives out
Yamamoto would also get a bigger contract than Skubal if they were both free agents right now. Yamamoto is 2 years younger and has never had a Tommy John or any sort of surgery. Skubal had one eight years ago which makes him due for another within the next 3-5 years. Yamamoto would get 450 million if he entered free agency this offseason. Skubal would get 300-350