SURGING DEMAND: Tarik Skubal’s Market Price CLIMBS as Detroit Tigers Navigate Free Agency CHAOS

SURGING DEMAND: Tarik Skubal’s Market Price CLIMBS as Detroit Tigers Navigate Free Agency CHAOS

As free agents begin to sign, the pitching market looks to be taking at least some resemblance of a shape. And Trick Scoo’s price tag might just keep climbing. You are Locked on Tigers, your daily Detroit Tigers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. What is up everybody? Welcome back to another edition of Locked On Tigers. I’m of course your host, Scott Bentley. Today is Monday, December 1st, 2025. Thank you so much for making Locked On Tigers your first listen every single day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcasts, including YouTube, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every single day. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code lockdown MLB for $20 off of your first purchase. Welcome in everyone. Welcome all. Happy Monday. As we enter December, we have a lot to discuss. I want to end the show by actually talking about old friend Matt Manning going and signing with the KBO. We’re also going to talk about winter meetings beginning just next week. We’ll talk about the Tigers resigning Tanner Rainey to a minor league deal. We’ll talk about uh Tigers pre-arm players getting bonus money over the holiday. But we’re going to start off the show by talking about the pitching price market, I guess the pitching market and what the price tag for not only starters, but I guess relievers, just kind of everyone in general appears to be. This is not to say that the market is completely set. There are big names that will determine a lot of that going forward and will determine, you know, what uh the projected salaries are for a lot of these guys and whatnot. But we are already seeing some relatively bigname players sign contracts with teams and they’re not cheap. And I think that it’s important, you know, as we always just kind of have the TK school situation in the back of our heads throughout not only this winter but going through next year. It’s important to kind of recalibrate every once in a while and be like, okay, well, you know, this was the number that was thrown out there like a year ago, right? Was 400 mil. Some people scoffed at that. Some people said that that was correct, etc., etc. there was a, you know, two different uh reporters that were arguing about the discrepancy between the Tigers offer and what school’s asking price was. You know, some as high as like hundreds of millions of dollars, some say it’s not that much. All of this we have talked about plenty over the last well just month. Uh but obviously dating back to this time last year as well. So, I want to start with Ryan Hellley to the Baltimore Orioles. The reason we’re starting with him is because I think it’s like the neatest contract. Uh, just the the cleanest of these two deals we’re going to talk about. But also, and far more importantly, the Tigers expressed interest in Ryan Hley. The weird part was if you listen to the episode last week where we broke down that interest and you know what uh from the Tigers perspective why this made sense, why it didn’t, etc. Um the Tigers wanted to convert Ryan Hley into a starting pitcher which he has not done since he was in the minor leagues. Baltimore Orioles sign him for two years, $28 million and there’s an opt out after the first year. Sounds like it’ll be as a reliever and not just as a reliever, but as the ninth inning, you know, go-to save situation reliever in Baltimore. The immediate question that I get flooded with after, you know, Helley gets signed as, you know, how do you feel? Would you, if you were the Tigers, would you have done this? Did you want him to be a starter, etc., etc.? Like I said, we kind of broke him down a little bit last week, so we I I won’t, you know, regurgitate the same information there. But I am glad the Tigers did not pay more than that, 14 AAV for two years with an opt out and make him a starter. If they did one or the other, I’d kind of be like game. Not, you know, I I wouldn’t be throwing a a parade down Woodward, but like I I’ I’d see the vision. Okay, you get him for a value contract and you’re going to try him as a starter. Why not? Or he wants to be a reliever. You need a reliever. We’re going to pay him big bucks to make sure that he is closing games for the Detroit Tigers for this foreseeable future. If either one of those things happened in a vacuum, I honestly wouldn’t be too upset if both of them happened, right? If I would not have been pleased if Helley was signed by the Tigers as a starting pitcher for like 20 mil a year, right? That that’s kind of what I’m getting at. Also, I’m sick and my voice I I’ve been hacking up along all day. So, if I Yeah, just bear with me here. We’re we’re we’re ball. We’re here. We’re ready. Um but 14 a year, you know, it’s interesting like that isn’t nothing. Um, but Baltimore wants to try to get their I don’t even know how to say this like nicely, but their organization like back on track. I don’t even think that’s like a like a slanderous thing. I feel like the the fan base probably feels similarly and a lot of that has to do with the success or or stability maybe is the word of the back end of their bullpen. a lot of those pieces that you know three years ago. Um I almost just coughed up everything. Uh so that was really close but I’m I’m him. Um but you look at that bullpen from you know two or three years ago you have I mean even for a hot minute right Gregory Sodto was their old friend but um the the two like pillars at the back end uh have either been hurt andor traded for a long majority of the last few years. Gregory Stoodto not there anymore. Like that they they had a bunch of really hardthrowing backend relievers to pair with a young core offensively. And this is not to omit everyone else from blame either o over there, right? Like their offense, you know, Adley has not hit really much of anything over the last what calendar year and a half maybe even going back like two years. um their starting rotation has been abysmal and they just traded away Grayson Rodriguez for a bat. Like there is I mean there’s a lot there that has to be addressed and I I think that the back end of their bullpen is obviously a priority this winter and that’s why they feel comfortable giving 14 mil. And from Hellsley’s perspective, you know, he just had one of the worst seasons of his major league career and he now is guaranteed 14 mil to be a reliever. If he still sucks, then he’s on the hook for 14 more the following year, even though he will have back-to-back poor seasons in a row. And if he’s really good, then he can opt out and try to get that big money closer contract for multiple years. So, good for Hley. I think it’s good for Baltimore. I actually I really like Hley. I think the profile translates. I think this half of a season with the Mets was kind of more of an anomaly than anything else. But what position does that put the Tigers in, right? They need to add a starting pitcher still. They have not done that yet. And obviously, they need to add multiple relievers. And if we’re looking at market value, this is 14 mil for a reliever who had a rough season, right? He he was he he was horrible in the second half. you know, once the trade happened a and he’s not exactly like a young prospect anymore and is getting 28 mil o over two years guaranteed if he wants it. So that is why I not only is it important again just because like the Tigers expressed interest in him. So are we upset or not, you know, because of this? But I I think the market value is the biggest talking point here. And that leads us into a contract that the Toronto Blue Jays gave Dylan CE that is probably far more of a talking point in terms of starting pitcher contract than Hley. We’ll do that right after this. First though, got to talk to you all about our friends over at FanDuel. NFL Sundays move fast. There’s one big play and suddenly everything feels different. That’s what making live bets with FanDuel so exciting. You’re not just watching the game. You’re reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you can place bets on the action as it unfolds. Every drive, every momentum shift, and every highlight moment. Live betting is best when the game starts to shift, right? like a receiver gets hot, defense tightens up, or the momentum t flips after a turnover. FanDuel lets you jump into the moment. There’s live spreads and money lines that you can adjust instantly. Uh player props and update as guys heat up. You can be next touchdown scores, drive results, totals, and so much more. It keeps you locked into every snap, every drive, and every possibility. So, if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. FanDuel, the game moves fast and so can you. All right, everybody. Welcome back here. Segment two, Locked on Tigers. Thank you for bearing with me. My throat is on fire. Um, I’m not having a good time, but I am having a good time because you decided to tune in today. I appreciate you all. greatly. Thanks for making us your first listen. As always, we’ll be back tomorrow continuing our offseason conversations. Winter meetings looms. It is a week away as you listen to this. So, we’re going to have a lot of conversations this week that will play big uh a big factor or big talking points as we head into what usually is the busiest week or two of the off season. Thanks for tuning in and making Lockdown the number one sports podcast network. talked about Ryan Helley a lot in segment one kind of how that contract maybe affected the market a little bit. I if you have if you follow the game of baseball and you are aware of the Dylan CE contract then you knew the second that you clicked on this video that this was going to be a talking point surrounding this conversation as well. And that’s Dylan CE getting a $210 million deal over seven years from the Toronto Blue Jays. That is $30 million a season if it’s spread out evenly, which we know is is not a guarantee these days, but you’re talking about 30 AAV if it is even year in and year out. That is unbelievable to me. Like I I look at Scooble and I think you beautiful, beautiful man, you’re about to get a trillion dollars. Like and that that’s not supposed to be, you know, disrespectful to Dylan C sees. You know, he obviously a really solid pitcher who’s has thrown a lot of innings and started a lot of games at the major league level over the last five or six years, has had a couple of, you know, sai young contender caliber seasons. Um, but you look at the year he just had and you look at that contract and you look at his age and etc., etc. I I I don’t know, man. I I CE had one of the least productive years of his Major League Baseball career and is going into his age 30 season. I think his birthday is just a few days after Christmas. Now, this last year was not good. RA over four and a half, still had a lot of swing and miss, still gets strikeouts at a pretty decent rate. Um, and has two top five Sai Young finishes prior to 2025. And one of them was just two seasons ago. Like, he’s a good pitcher, don’t get me wrong. That doesn’t make the contract any less like optically just kind of whoa. Like I, you know, didn’t see that one coming. uh when we look at, you know, contract projections and and predictions from beat writers and, you know, websites and formulas and whatever, I I’d be pressed to find anyone who thought CE was going to get 210 mil. Now, the reason we bring this up is because I I I believe it’s a testament to the starting pitching market and what we can kind of expect in it going forward. Like seriously, if that is the market and again 14 mil for Helley who didn’t have a great year this year isn’t nothing either. So if if this is truly how the market is going to value you know pitchers that can provide innings then scubble getting less than what 350 mil would become like there’s no way it’s going to be less than that and 10 years probably smacked on to that. So, you’re getting 35 a year for 10 years. Like, we’ll see. We’ll see. And again, that’s like that’s not me saying that’s a a prediction. I I think if this is the market, that’s kind of a low end. We will see. But I I think it certainly adds a wrinkle into the already very very uh intriguing TKO saga, if you will. So, this is the market. And I know I’ve, you know, take a drink every time I say market and and you don’t know where you are. I I I promise I’ll stop saying it, but like this is what has been set, right? Like this is there’s some people that that hear those numbers and they go, “Wow, like those are overpays, right? Those are all overpays. You know, so and so isn’t worth that much, whatever.” At some point, this just is what the market value is. like this just is the price for that level of production. It’s not an overpay if 29 other teams agree that that’s what he’s worth. Then that’s just the market for the player. So you as a as a front office and as an ownership group, you got to get with the times and go get some players that that are productive and are going to cost you a pretty penny or sell the team, dude. Like that’s that’s where we’re at. This is the price of a player and and a good player. And this is obviously in the context that we’re discussing mostly over the next calendar year is is this is the price of Trick Scoo. He’s going to cost a lot of money. I saved it. He’s going to cost a lot of money. Not that that’s, you know, news to anybody tuning in. Okay, let’s move on. I want to talk a little bit about the Detroit Tigers pre-arbitration players that received bonuses. Uh Evan Pzled of the Freep, who we praise and talk about all the time on this show, uh put out a great piece that kind of highlighted uh the exact dollar amounts for everybody and and you know what goes into the decision. Um but essentially in the last CBA, so what was that? 2021 whenever like right around like the COVID, you know, then there was the lockout through spring training and then whatever. Whatever in the last CBA, um one of the additions was a $50 million bonus pool that gave performance bonuses to players that are pre-arbitration eligible. We talked about that a lot over the last couple of weeks as arbitration and non-tender deadlines, you know, and whatnot. So, I I won’t dive into the the specifics of that just because we’ve already talked about it a lot. But, uh, Dylan Dingler, Riley Green, Spencer Tolson, Colt Keith, Ree Olsen, and Winsil Perez all receive bonuses. Dylan Dingler leading the pack at $549,351 of bonuses. Again, Evan of the Freep, Evan Pzel, beautifully kind of highlights uh what goes into all that. If you get uh certain awards, I’m sure the gold glove was a factor. Well, I know it was a factor. Um but you know, where how many votes you get on certain awards, where you finish uh where you finish in war even matters, right? Like the the MLB’s calculation and formula for war. So, um, Dylan Dingler at the top, Winil Perez at the bottom with $219,286. Everybody else between, uh, Dylan Dingler was, according to Pzold, one of, uh, fewer than 30 players that received over half a million dollars in bonuses. I think it was 27 or 26 players total had their bonuses be in that price range. It’s always good to see, you know, obviously good productive players uh not only for your team but also get compensated like ju just for like purely performance. I I think that that, you know, stuff matters and and in the grand scheme of things, you know, I context is important, right? There’s some guys making, you know, $40 million a year, but um for the guys that are pre-ARB and are getting the league minimum every year until they’re arbitration eligible, um that that, you know, obviously I don’t have to tell the world that like quarter of a million dollars is a nice uh bump and a nice bonus that they receive. The player in the pre-arbitration pool that made the most money this season, you can all guess it. It’s not too hard. Paul Skins ju this is just contextually right like Dylan Dingler was one of the 25 or 30 highest paid players from this bonus pool and he made just over half a million dollars. Paul Sches made three and a half mil uh because obviously one of Sai Young among a plethora of other achievements from this calendar year. Tanner Rainey signed to a minor league deal by the Detroit Tigers. uh has an invite to spring training, a non-roster invite. So obviously he is not on the 40man roster. If he were to make the team out of camp, he would receive $1.3 million as his salary. Yeah. I mean, sure. Sure. I I I have I have no issues or qualms with this. Like this is he’s 32 right now. He turned he’ll be 33 next year. his birthday. Actually, as I was doing show prep, I believe his birthday is on Christmas. So, there you go. Shout out to Hannah Rainey. Um, but he’ll be 33 next season. He’s a righty. He’s a depth arm. He’s had like three erra level production in AAA. His last two since at the major leagues have not been very productive. He’s not on the 40man roster. I don’t really care. Clearly, they like something about him and he likes the organization and he can stay as a depth. You know, several injuries happen in the bullpen. who are we going to call Ghostbusters and Tanner Rainey. So, um that is the latest signing at the time of this recording at least from your Detroit Tigers organization. Let’s talk about Matt Manning, old friend, and then winter meetings that start next week. We will do that right after this. First though, got to talk to you’all about our friends over at Game Time. With Game Time, you can track price drops in real time, get alerts when great seats open, and buy tickets the moment they hit the app. The World Cup is coming up back to North America for the first time since 1994. And with 48 teams for the first time ever, it is going to be absolutely massive. But let’s be honest, getting tickets is usually the hardest part. 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All right, everybody. Welcome back here. Third and final segment locked on Tigers as I take my behind to bed. Um, we are talking about a plethora of news from over the long weekend. I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving with yourself or your family. However you spent it, I hope it was exactly as you pleased. The next piece of news I want to talk about is from an old friend and that would be Matt Manning. I am wishing him nothing but the best. Um just could not figure it out here. Went to Philly last year. Philly’s organization was almost solely in the minor leagues throughout that year and has now signed a contract with the KBO, which for those who don’t know is the Korean baseball league. Uh for those of us who are real, I guess like baseball sickos, you will remember the KBO as the league uh during COVID in 2020. It was the only baseball league, professional baseball league in the world that was playing at one point that summer uh when the whole world shut down. And so uh me and and you know a lot of people in my friend group and family and whatnot, we were you know nowhere to go. So, we were staying up and watching KBO baseball uh at, you know, four o’clock in the morning, one o’clock in the morning, 3:00 am. Uh, and they have actually produced, I think that that was really big for them just in terms of eyes on their league. But they’ve actually produced a handful of really solid major league players over the last well probably since then over the last five years and they’ve obviously had some before that as well but it seems to be a lot more consistent and the level of play in the KBO seems to have increased kind of a a decent amount and a lot more major leaguers uh that can’t find a contract with an MLB team are now going to the KBO to kind of redefine their skills, work on some stuff, play there for a year and then get out. I know Dixon Machado played in the KBO a few years back and then returned, got signed by the Giants, got a second chance of playing pro ball over here. Like that there are a handful of stories like that and hopefully Matt Manning can become another KBO success story. Um he just I I can’t say that I watched a ton of him in TripleA with Philadelphia uh this past year, so maybe this isn’t up to date anymore, but when he was a Tiger man, he just didn’t have secondary stuff. U and and that’s not even just it. Like it’d be one thing if he had that and he had an electric, incredible fast ball. Not the case. Uh he had a fast ball that didn’t get hit a ton to his credit. Um, but in the same breath, I mean, it was one of the most inconsistent pitches. It would drive you nuts, dude. He’d throw at it 9798 one inning, and then he’d come out and throw at 91 the following, and you’re like, what is happening? Um, and that unfortunately was just kind of a thorn in his side. I don’t know whether it’s mechanics, not being able to repeat them, um, if it’s situational or whatever. Um, but that an inconsistent fast ball paired with really no secondary stuff. the slider was ineffective. The curveball we heard a ton about when he was coming up through the minor league system and everybody praised, you know, um like how how great the curve ball is going to be, etc., etc. By the time he got to the majors, he didn’t even have one. He he used a splitter change up type thing in spring training two years ago when we were like, “Oh, maybe like this is a you know, a new pitch turning the page.” No, the second that that the regular season started, he stopped throwing it almost altogether. So, yeah, like it’s it’s obviously been, I’m sure, frustrating for him, but um I I really do wish him nothing but the best. He was uh I think the the fortunate thing that he has going for him is he is still only 27 years old and lots of players, as I mentioned, have gone overseas to Japan or or Korea. Um, honestly, there’s a handful of leagues in Europe as well and kind of tried to redefine their game and work their way back. So, um, yeah, hopefully it’ll be good for him. Hopefully, in a year or two, we’re talking about, you know, him with a revamped repertoire and and kind of reinserting himself into the free agency mix or or whatnot. But, um, I, you know, this guy was a former top 25 prospect in all of baseball. He was one of the best prospects in the Tigers organization. He was a first round pick out of high school in what 2016 and now we’re, you know, we’re about to be 10 years removed from his draft year. Um, I I just I really hope he figures it out and, you know, honestly like just has a great experience in Korea. Like that th those kind of stories are so cool to me and I I hope that he I hope that he figures it out. I’ll be rooting for him. Next week, winter meetings begin on December 7th. Now, 7th is the Sunday. Nothing really happens on the Sunday. That’s like everyone comes into town. You don’t see anything really. Then um honestly, the last few years have been super hit or miss on just seeing anything in winter meetings period. So, we’ll see what happens there. But a lot is going to happen even if there’s not a ton of moves. You got the rule five draft. You have the draft lottery there. There’s, you know, rumors just pouring out of everybody’s ears and mouths while they’re over there. Uh it is one of the most fun weeks of the year. the Tigers of the off seasonason. Certainly, the Tigers have been quiet so far in the off seasonason. I know some people roll their eyes at that, but like I I don’t pretty much all teams except for like one or two have been really quiet so far. We’re still, you know, anything pre-winter meetings is just like there’s not usually a ton going on. Um, so yeah, maybe the Jays and and Orioles omitted from that statement, but you know, the Tigers not doing anything yet doesn’t like make me upset. If we get to March and they haven’t done anything, then you know we we’ll we’ll rightly criticize. Um so yeah, almost everyone in free agency is still available and the Tigers in theory have money to spend. So we’ll see what happens and like I said, we’ll obviously have a ton of conversations throughout the week in regards to winter meetings and what we can expect from your Detroit Tigers. Thanks, Megan. Lockdown Tigers, your first listen every single day. Shout out to the everydayers that do tune in every day. We of course will be back tomorrow talking about what I just laid out so I won’t repeat myself. Peace and love. Going to therapy is dope. I’ll catch you all then, baby. Go Tigers.

With the MLB pitching market exploding, could Tarek Skubal command a record-breaking deal to stay with the Detroit Tigers? Scott Bentley explores how recent contracts like Dylan Cease’s $210 million deal and Ryan Helsley’s bold move to the Orioles are redefining the value of arms across the league.

Key topics include the Tigers’ offseason priorities, the implications of big spending on Skubal’s future, and what recent reliever signings mean for Detroit’s bullpen strategy. Scott Bentley breaks down the Tigers’ minor-league signings, hands out praise for young players earning pre-arbitration bonuses, and examines Matt Manning’s shift to the KBO. With winter meetings and the Rule 5 draft on the horizon, find out what’s next for the Tigers as they look to build a contender in a rapidly changing baseball landscape.

00:00 “Ryan Helsley Joins Orioles”
04:06 “Tigers’ Helsley Contract Reaction”
08:15 “Pitcher Contracts and Market Value”
12:35 Surprising Pitching Contract Trends
16:29 “Bonus Awards for MLB Players”
17:27 Top Pre-Arb Bonus Earners
23:18 “KBO’s Rising Impact on MLB”
25:35 “Revamping Career Abroad at 27”
27:29 Tigers’ Quiet Offseason Start

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