AlaskanTigersFan

https://fansided.com/mlb/one-mlb-prospect-tigers-should-demand-in-return-from-every-tarik-skubal-frontrunner - Another fun article. If we can get Ethan Salas straight up for Skubal, I'd be a happy man... lol. Oi vey.

https://www.mlb.com/news/tarik-skubal-trade-rumors-interested-teams - Interesting article. https://www.si.com/mlb/brewers/onsi/should-brewers-push-their-chips-in-for-tarik-skubal-blockbuster-pat3?page_source=v_recirc - Talks Brewers trade idea from Brewers side: Brewers Receive: LHP Tarik Skubal Tigers Receive: INF Jett Williams (Brewers' No. 3 prospect, MLB's No. 60 prospect), OF Luis Lara (Brewers' No. 5 prospect, MLB's No. 94 prospect), and LHP Robert Gasser (Brewers' No. 15 prospect) I'd take that deal if it was the best. I think the Tigers could get a top 25 prospect in baseball and a ML SP right now though... I think the Dodgers got this on lock giving us one of their OF'rs and a SP. The Cubs are mentioned a lot as well. But I don't think they have enough. Jaxon Wiggins and who else would be enough from the Cubs? Hard to say really..... Their top prospect is basically Max Anderson.... It'd honestly take Ballesteros and Wiggins for me to be happy from the Cubs even if we have to kick back someone like Lee or Anderson or Briceno in the deal...... I doubt they'd do that. So I guess the Dodgers are the clear favorites ehh 🙂

Teams most likely to trade for Skubal in my opinion in order: LA Dodgers Phillies Braves Cubs Padres Yankees Pirates (Yes!) Don't sleep on the Pirates being interested in Skubal if they're in the race. To pair Skenes and Skubal, I think they'd consider it. Jared Jones is coming back and they still have Seth Hernandez/Hunter Barco. If they did something like Bubba Chandler and Termarr Johnson, that'd be a great deal for both.

If they got Eduardo Quintero alone, that'd be a steal. But I'll be happy with others. If we get 2 of them, I'll be really happy...

The Dodgers draft better than any other team..... They can afford to give up prospect capital because they replenish it so well. They also don't need that many spaces to fill. They have big league ready players down on the farm. Eduardo Quintero might be the best of all their OF prospects and he's #3 on their list (Probably the guy I would want most out of the Dodgers but they won't deal him. Even though I'd rather have him over De Paula). Between Pages, Call and Tucker, the Dodgers might need 1, maybe 2 OF'rs. In there top 15 prospects, 8 are OF'rs. It is house money. And if they can deal two of the 8 to get a WS, it seems pretty brain dead to me.

We got some good pitching coming up that should be plenty of power bullpen arms. It's SP we have to worry about. Here's next years FA's: Starting Pitcher: Tarik Skubal, Kevin Gausman, Freddy Peralta, Michael King (opt-out), Sandy Alcantara (club option), Shane Bieber, Corbin Burnes (opt-out), Brandon Woodruff, Tatsuya Imai (opt-out), Jack Flaherty, Sonny Gray (club option), Clay Holmes (opt-out), Shota Imanaga, Robbie Ray, Nick Pivetta (opt-out), Zac Gallen, Chris Bassitt, Luis Severino (player option), Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Tyler Mahle, José Berríos (opt-out), Brady Singer, Zach Eflin (mutual option), Trevor Rogers, David Peterson, Matthew Boyd (mutual option), Taijuan Walker, Jameson Taillon, Jeffrey Springs (club option), Drew Rasmussen (club option), Casey Mize, Nick Martinez (mutual option), Zack Littell (mutual option), Lucas Gioltio (mutual option) https://www.mlb.com/news/baseball-s-next-free-agent-classes So there's a lot to work with. We should really go after 1 high end SP and one mediocre starter. I also think we'll pick up a starter if we move Mize/Skubal. We'll get one younger starter for the rotation. But we got some guys coming. Jobe, Madden, Montero, Valdez..... This could be a really good team. They should have cashed in on Skubal when they could have gotten three premium players. But if they can salvage it and get 1 true stud, and 1 medium prospect and a good lottery ticket, it'd be worth it. If Harris gets what Avila got for Mathew Boyd, then I'm gonna be pissed and at the gate with a pitchfork!

They still can be good. You build around Dingler, McGonigle, Clark, Keith, and Greene. If they move Skubal for 2 of the Dodgers OF'rs, then you're looking at a fantastic lineup. Jobe comes back and Madden back next year. Add a FA starter and you got a good young team to build around. We got pitching coming in the farm too. Moving Skubal can help quite a bit. Especially if they can get 2 top(ish) prospects. I could see them getting a package of something like Josue De Paula and Mike Sirota and a throw in like Serwinowski or Zach Root for Skubal still. If the Tigers move Mize, they could also get someone in the top 4-8(ish) range of top prospect from an organization. Also, don't be surprised if Sasaki becomes a headliner piece back in the rumor mill. I still don't think that's out of the question. If Fetter thinks he can fix Sasaki, that could be something of note too.

Been saying this for 2 years..........

As the only person on this board that basically said that every single day for a year..... *Cough*, I told you so!

He does have the money.... I bet if he offered $500 million, the Tigers would trade McGonigle for "Cash Considerations" lol.

Yea, thanks for sharing! Very cool.

I think your right. But if there's a lockout, they aren't paying players or staff around the park on game days. Just maintenance staff and general maintenance. They could also probably lease their fields for events too. But your point is very valid, just trying to play a little devil's advocate. I agree with you though.

Exactly why the Tigers should trade him now for a kings ransom. Or if he blows out his arm in April.... FML. We are the Angels 2.0.....

The point I am making is these smaller market teams won't be able to keep a lot of their players past year 3.... If their superstar rookies are getting paid $30 mil+ 3 years into their MLB life, how will the small markets do that? You mock about the 97 win Brewers.... Imagine if they didn't have Freddy Peralta, Chuorio, Miz, Uribe, Vaughn, Turang, Durbin..... You think they win 97? Hell no. These small market teams can't and won't recover from this ....... (Yes I understand Chuorio has a long term deal but I'm pointing out that if he knows he can make $35mil+ after 3 years, he wouldn't of signed that deal ...... This is strictly for example purposes to prove the point.)

I have no idea how you think this after today's deal. How will this work for small market clubs like the Brewers, Pirates and Rays who pump out good players? They will HAVE to trade their players after three years of MLB service time.... They won't get six years..... Take the Pirates for example. Three years from now, Skenese will be making $40-50/year, Jared Jones will be making $30-40, Bubba Chandler will be making $20-30 million per year. Throw in Konnor Griffin making $30+ million a year.... That's $120 ON THE LOW END for this club three years from now for four players! Today's ruling just effectively killed the possibility of a smooth conversation for a clean CBA negotiation next year. The owners will DEMAND a Salary Cap after today. A lot of teams won't be able to afford this if every 5-year stud starts making $30 mil+. I'm glad Skubal got paid what he did. He deserves it. But today's ruling just hurt baseball.... and it hurt it deep. I'll be amazed if the owners don't lockout next year w/o a salary cap. They won't even come to the table until the players say that they will at least listen to something on that. Enjoy baseball. Cuz after this year, it's going to be a looooooooong time until you see another MLB game......

Sasaki/Valdez looks really nice to me. Not too far off from Skubal/Valdez. Not to mention the other pieces we'd get as well...... I'll take it. Remember, Sasaki last year had a 75 grade from Baseball America..... thats litearlly one point from a perfect prospect. If he pitches like he did in the playoffs all year long..... sheeeeeeeeesh.

If Skubal wins (which I think he will), there will be no baseball next year. Small market teams will NEVER be able to compete again.

I was just gonna ask if you all think signing Framber means Skubal is gone before the season starts? Or does Harris try running it with Framber and Skubal and see how it goes? Me personally, I hope he gets traded (been saying that all season). But curious on your thoughts on that.

https://www.cleveland.com/guardians/2026/02/tarik-skubal-arbitration-case-could-completely-revolutionize-mlbs-salary-system.html - Amazing article explaining how Skubal is basically representing the players and the Tigers are representing MLB and the owners. I highly recommend. If Skubal wins, it will transform arbitration. Teams will no longer have 6 years of control of players.... Skenes will make $40 million next year..... How will these smaller teams be able to afford good players? Small market teams will be squeezed anytime they get a good player..... Tampa and Pittsburgh will be selling their franchises next year if Skubal wins......... They'd have too.

I-4 sucks. Terrible drive there. Nice ballpark though.

Ok. Very cool segment on MLB on XM today. They were talking about this and how there may be a lockout. Eduardo Perez came up with a great idea. His idea is when a team signs a player at least two years prior to them becoming a free agent to an extension, the team gets to write off 20%-30% of the AAV from the luxury tax. He stated this would allow players to get paid, but also incentivize teams to sign their players. So take a player that makes $40 mil/year. A team could write off $8 million of that from the luxury tax. You do this with multiple players and you can essentially save some entire players salary allowing teams to retain players. Steve Phillips brought up, well what if teams still don't come close to the luxury tax and Eduardo said it still helps them in the grand scheme of things. He said this would allow teams to retain players and the big buyers (like the Mets, Dodgers, Yankees etc...) would have to develop their own players instead of teams like the Brewers, Marlins and Rays acting like a farm club to the rest of the league. While I like the idea in general, I didn't really like the response from Eduardo. But what I'd like to expand on that idea, is allow smaller teams to be able to trade the access AAV they are able to save to bigger clubs for players/draft picks. So for example, the Dodgers are constantly at or above the luxury tax. Lets say Tampa Bay signs three players with a $20 mil AAV. Lets say teams get to bank 20% of that AAV. Well that produces $12 million in luxury tax space. The Rays could then trade that $12 million per year to the Dodgers for a player or draft pick that would then help both teams. Curious on thoughts on that?

I guess I wasn't really clear. I think with MLB players now making $60 mil/year and Hockey players maxing out at $10 mil per year, how do we get MLB to be reasonable? $25-35 mil is a lot of money and should be superstar per year money, but not $60. But how do we go back from this? This is the argument that will ruin baseball. Before these deals, I think there was a legit chance to have a collective bargaining agreement next year. Now, I don't see how it's possible..... How will the owners get a salary cap when some players are making $60 million a year? It's not really possible unless your cap is like $500+ million per year which is totally unrealistic.... I could see a cap being $300 or lower. But you got 28 players and one person making $60 million, that's 20% of your payroll. I guess if you can fit 25 other players under the $240 it'd be possible..... And then it turns into how much do minor leaguers play into the cap? It's turned into a real mess and rather quickly.....

Isn't it amazing. In MLB, there are $60 million per year contracts being dished out. In Hockey, an AMAZING BREAK THE BANK contract is like $10 million a year...... Woof.

I'm confused. I really think the Tigers could get 3 top 100 prospects for Skubal...... I still stand behind Andrew Painter, Justin Crawford and Aiden Miller for Skubal being the comparable price I'd put on him...... ESPECIALLY after the Peralta trade. To put it in perspective. The Dodgers would give up something like Roki Sasaki, Dalton Rushing and Zyhir Hope....... I don't think price wise that is out of the realm.... Do I think it will happen? No I don't. I could see the Tigers waiting until the deadline, being out of it, and giving Skubal up for ONE of those. Hence why I think they should trade him NOW. But just my $0.02.

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-power-rankings-inaugural-2026-edition?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage - Tigers are 13th! WTF are we doing. Trade SKubal now.