If they trade Skubal I will be pissed. You have the best pitcher in the league and a good roster that can get better. you don’t give up the best pitcher for some players who might be good some day at this point. Add a couple of pieces, and guys get hot at the right time and they could be competing for the World Series next year. If Ilitch can’t afford it, then it is time to sell the team.
[deleted]
>The idea of trading him and recouping value while they still can has real appeal despite the division it would likely cause among fans.
Likely “division among fans” is a criterion for decision making?
The ugly truth that Scott Harris knows in the back of his mind: Tarik Skubal is not on his timeline for the Tigers.
There’s a reason they’ve had to survive on pitching chaos. There are reasons why the bats go as cold as they do for weeks at a time, seemingly.
This team and this roster is not as close as fans think it is. There needs to be a solid pitching rotation and depth for injury. They don’t even really have the first part. This team needs more than one veteran bat. It needs that, plus the team as a whole to be way more consistent.
Trading Skubal better get a HAUL, if it happens.
Because i think Harris sees the Tigers as being further away than people realize. This is a very flawed roster, with some holes to fill at everyday positions.
If your whole organization depends on keeping one pitcher you’re pretty much fucked to begin with. They’ve been fairly lucky so far, but so many things can go wrong for a pitcher it’s risky to put all of your organizational hopes on one guy. Considering how many other problems have been exposed this year with things like their inconsistent hitting and the rest of their rotation, if they can get a haul for him now they probably should.
This really comes down to are we taking the path of the Expos/ Marlins? IOW are we going to develop players then trade them away or let them walk in free agency.
With Skubal its more difficult as paying him would cripple the team financially. Imagine giving him $40+ million per year, then not being able to afford the pieces to complete the team.
What is the right answer? No clue but if someone gives us a kings ransom I’d take it.
a good chance they’re gonna lose a year of his prime due to strike, so a long contract is gonna be even longer with less benefit
Only one commenter here (kodiblaze) even mentions the real problem — Scott Boras. He always takes his clients to free agency. Always. He screwed over Mike Ilitch when he accepted a handshake deal for Scherzer only to use that amount as a baseline in a continued open market move. Mike was furious.
There is no way Boras will let Skubal sign here without hearing offers from the Mets, Dodgers, et al. No way.
Scott Harris is a Jed Hoyer guy, whatever the cubs are doing or have done the tigers are doing that too.
The cubs are run by the spreadsheet and so are the tigers. If the conditional formatting is green, it’s a good player, dollar amount etc. if it comes back red they won’t do the deal.
This is a simpler version of how it happens but you get the picture
![[Cody Stavenhagen] What sort of organization will the Tigers be? It’s time for hard decisions](https://www.rawchili.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/yk2vQrJcX-UL1uT0MdDLm80x5vRp0qboEh-D94p3rQ.jpeg)
9 comments
If they trade Skubal I will be pissed. You have the best pitcher in the league and a good roster that can get better. you don’t give up the best pitcher for some players who might be good some day at this point. Add a couple of pieces, and guys get hot at the right time and they could be competing for the World Series next year. If Ilitch can’t afford it, then it is time to sell the team.
[deleted]
>The idea of trading him and recouping value while they still can has real appeal despite the division it would likely cause among fans.
Likely “division among fans” is a criterion for decision making?
The ugly truth that Scott Harris knows in the back of his mind: Tarik Skubal is not on his timeline for the Tigers.
There’s a reason they’ve had to survive on pitching chaos. There are reasons why the bats go as cold as they do for weeks at a time, seemingly.
This team and this roster is not as close as fans think it is. There needs to be a solid pitching rotation and depth for injury. They don’t even really have the first part. This team needs more than one veteran bat. It needs that, plus the team as a whole to be way more consistent.
Trading Skubal better get a HAUL, if it happens.
Because i think Harris sees the Tigers as being further away than people realize. This is a very flawed roster, with some holes to fill at everyday positions.
If your whole organization depends on keeping one pitcher you’re pretty much fucked to begin with. They’ve been fairly lucky so far, but so many things can go wrong for a pitcher it’s risky to put all of your organizational hopes on one guy. Considering how many other problems have been exposed this year with things like their inconsistent hitting and the rest of their rotation, if they can get a haul for him now they probably should.
This really comes down to are we taking the path of the Expos/ Marlins? IOW are we going to develop players then trade them away or let them walk in free agency.
With Skubal its more difficult as paying him would cripple the team financially. Imagine giving him $40+ million per year, then not being able to afford the pieces to complete the team.
What is the right answer? No clue but if someone gives us a kings ransom I’d take it.
a good chance they’re gonna lose a year of his prime due to strike, so a long contract is gonna be even longer with less benefit
Only one commenter here (kodiblaze) even mentions the real problem — Scott Boras. He always takes his clients to free agency. Always. He screwed over Mike Ilitch when he accepted a handshake deal for Scherzer only to use that amount as a baseline in a continued open market move. Mike was furious.
There is no way Boras will let Skubal sign here without hearing offers from the Mets, Dodgers, et al. No way.
Scott Harris is a Jed Hoyer guy, whatever the cubs are doing or have done the tigers are doing that too.
The cubs are run by the spreadsheet and so are the tigers. If the conditional formatting is green, it’s a good player, dollar amount etc. if it comes back red they won’t do the deal.
This is a simpler version of how it happens but you get the picture