AlaskanTigersFan

Tigers offense is middle of the road, and our pitching isn't much better. Here's hoping to a good year if he's not traded. I'm very happy to have been wrong the last two years in thinking our boys overperformed. So here's hoping they can do it again.

I play strat-o-matic baseball. So I follow minor leaguers quite a bit. I love the young guys. Very excited to see who we could possibly get in a return. But yes, we gucci 🙂

Oh I'm not saying it's a done deal. I messaged Jason Beck, Ken Rosenthal and Jon Heyman asking for confirmation. But regardless, this is fun to think about this. (P.S. - I'll let you know if any of them respond to lil ol me lol)

Anyone have access to the Free Press article written last night that had 5 trade proposals for Skubal? I'm just curious what the offers were on that article and specifically, if they mentioned the Dodgers and if so what did they think?

They were also saying it takes balls for him to put his street cred on the line reporting this so early. A lot were wondering if he would post something without actually having an "in" on it because he could lose a lot of credibility. So that was the counter argument. This could be a fun day.

That's why I'm holding my breath..... I've been hitting refresh constantly for the last 5 hours lol. If true though, I think they plan on Rushing playing at 1B an moving Tork. I guess they could flip Dalton Rushing for something else, but I'd be surprised. This could be a fantastic deal if it goes through.........

*cough* Shohei Ohtani with the Angels *cough*

I dunno. If this rumor is true, I'm happy where it's starting. Glasnow if he can stay healthy is great. I'd move him to the pen myself, but meh....I'll still take his 15 starts 😂. Sheehan's a stud it looks like and Dalton Rushing was one of the top prospects last year. I just dunno where Rushing would go. Also, if it's Hope or De Paula, than that alone is a great haul. Regardless who the 5th player is. I'm just surprised that it hasn't been picked up more. Sports Illustrated just posted it 30 mins ago, but surprised more haven't reposted the trade even as pending speculation. But again, if it is what Bowden predicted (which subsequent tweets are confirming Glasnow, Sheehan and Dalton plus two others), then I gotta give Bowden props. But I'd be happy with that return. Just puzzled about Rushing. Maybe Tork may be on his way out for pitching to whoever misses on Alonso and Schwarber?

Dalton Rushing, Emmit Sheehan, Tyler Glasnow are three of the pieces. I guess there's 5 total from the rumors. Man I hope this is true. Where does Rushing play though? I doubt he'd supplant Dingler? This will be a crazy morning for sure. One poster made a great point. David Pingalore is going waaaaaaaay out on the limb with his credibility to break this. I guess he's broken a few things before, but mainly NBA. If this is true, I'd expect DePaula or Hope in the deal. Would LOVE to see Sasaki!!!! If this guys full of crap, I'm gonna send him a poo poo message on Twitter.

Rumor has it, deal done with LA Dodgers.... Let's see what happens and if it's real!!!

They would have done so if they were going to. He gone homey.

Sasaki, Sheehan, Hope, De Paula. Done deal. Make it happen Harris.

Gotchu fam. Like I said, we in the minority. A lot of people want to pin their hopes on one arm taking us to the promise land (We WITH YOU PIRATES FANS!!!!!!). But I wanna play the moneyball approach. Spread out that WAR value to multiple players. Either way, we can't go wrong.

Naaa you're good bro. I just want to make sure it doesn't go down that train track, that's all 🙂

Skubal and Liranzo for Payton Tolle, Kutter Crawford, Kyle Harrison and Kristian Campbell. Who says no? (Look at what the Red Sox are doing).

Ummmmmmmmmmm............... Lol

So...... this is how the wars in Westeros from Game of Thrones started..... People had the same idea for the greater good (We all want the Tigers to do well) but people had varying differences and it slowly crept into being personal attacks that festered. Let's please keep it civil. I get there's huge disagreements (1984, remember, I think you and I are the STRONG Minority here). At the end of the day, we all just want the Tigers to do well and hopefully bring home a World Series just like fans of all other 29 clubs. Some of us just think we (as a team), just aren't quite there yet and would prefer some more tools in the toolbox to increase our chances more over the next five or six years versus just next year. The other thing too, is MLB is a business. Free Agents will chase the money 90% of the time. Players know there will be trades. Young players will play hard because they 1.) Want to make it to the show, and 2.) Get the chance to hit Free Agency to get PAID. I think we can all agree on that, that minor leaguers will always play hard to make it. End of the day, we'll wait to see what happens. If there is a trade, it'd most likely happen this week, probably by Friday. If it doesn't happen by then, I'd mortgage my house to say Skubal will be starting on opening day for the Tigers. So let's wait and see. The anxiousness is building but at the end of the day, we are arguing in favor of a winning organization where we can't really lose. If we don't trade Skubal, then we hopefully can overperform and make it to the playoffs next year. If we trade Skubal, then we'll have three or four new toys to watch as the young Tigers turn into a championship team with Harris's players. Not Avila's. Either way, we're sitting pretty. Time to enjoy it.

This is the point I'm trying to make. I posted earlier in this thread too that we would need to add 3 Juan Soto's just to make our lineup a TOP 5 Lineup in baseball. That's how bad our lineup is. People overlook this. We are TERRIBLE! Pitching isn't much better either. Are there parts, sure. But trading Skubal would be a moneyball thing (Yes I'm referencing the movie for the point sake). He's our Giambi. We need to remake his WAR in the aggregate. If we can get Hope, De Paula, Alex Freeland and Roki Sasaki from the Dodgers, you phaggin DO IT! If you can only get Hope and Freeland for SKubal, you DON'T do it. I think it will take 3 top 30 prospects and a major leaguer to get Skubal. Chances of that happening, slim, but possible. Harris HAS to extract value to go with McGonigle, Clark, and Rainer. You have to build the team. Trading Skubal is your best chance to do that.

NGL, as I started reading this, I was like, "I can't believe I'm not quoted.... Ooop there I am. ONLY ONCE!?!" 😄😄😄😄 Good post though. A little dramatic but I get it 🙂

I took advantage of the Black Friday sale for Baseball America. In their chat for the Tigers, that's EXACTLY what has happened the last two drafts. Baseball America emphasized that the Tigers have focused heavily on drafting pitchers the last two drafts but its too early to tell. That and they took a lot of chances on kids that were hurt but extracted value because of that. They are very bullish on the lower minors pitching staff's for the Tigers organization.

I don't think they will either. But they do have 1 spot open on the 40 man roster...... 🤔

Tigers could get some help via rule 5. There's some interesting candidates. I like these 3 the most. Yohendrick Piñango, OF, Blue Jays Piñango is one of the best available hitters in the Rule 5 draft. He has an excellent combination of solid upper-level production—.258/.361/.430 with 14 home runs between Double-A and Triple-A—with nearly impeccable analytical data. He hits the ball as hard as almost anyone in the minors—92 mph average EV and a 109 mph 90th EV—and he does it with well-above-average contact rates and solid swing decisions. Piñango is a left fielder only, and he’s a fringy defender there. That’s a profile that doesn’t get picked all that often, but there are few 23-year-old lefthanded hitters like this in the Rule 5 draft. Brandon Birdsell, RHP, Cubs Entering 2025, Birdsell looked likely to make his major league debut as a depth starter for the Cubs down the stretch. Instead, he dealt with persistent elbow pain, missing the first two and a half months of the season before returning for four starts with Triple-A Iowa and being shut down for good with an elbow injury. Birdsell had elbow surgery in early September with Dr. Keith Meister, and while the exact details of the surgery are unknown, it sounds more likely to be an internal brace than a full Tommy John surgery. Birdsell is unlikely to see action at all in 2026. This makes him an easy stash for a team willing to hold him on a 40-man roster spot for the entire season. There’s a high likelihood that Birdsell is fully healthy heading into 2027 spring training, and he could at that time compete for a rotation spot. He would need to stick on the active roster for a total of 90 days to fulfill Rule 5 requirements if he doesn’t pitch in 2026. Over the last two seasons, Birdsell has 80 Triple-A innings and has pitched to a 4.05 ERA with 87 strikeouts to 26 walks. Over that time, he’s generated ground balls at a rate of 43.8% with a swinging-strike rate of 12.6%. Birdsell’s pitches across the board were down in 2025, as he went from sitting 95 mph on his cut-ride four-seam fastball in 2024 to 93.5 and losing an inch of vertical break. He also throws an upper-80s-to-low-90s cutter, a low-to-mid-80s curveball and a firm upper-80s changeup. All of his pitches have fringe-average stuff, but if he can return to his 2024 velocity and shape on his four-seamer, he could be a viable No. 5 starter or swingman in 2027. Peter Heubeck, RHP, Dodgers A third-round high school pick in the 2021 draft, Heubeck is Rule 5-eligible for the first time after spending all of 2025 with Double-A Tulsa. He made 16 starts spanning 66.1 innings before he hit the injured list in late July with rotator cuff inflammation that ended his season. Prior to the injury, Heubeck was putting together a fairly strong season with Tulsa, where he was striking out 27.7% of batters while holding opposing hitters to a .196 batting average. Heubeck’s 13.2% swinging-strike rate is above average for a starter, and he’s shown the ability to consistently miss bats. Heubeck leads his four-pitch mix with his four-seam fastball, a pitch that sits 93-94 mph with 18-20 inches of induced vertical break and moderate cut from a 5-foot-8 release height. The lower release on his fastball and high spin efficiency allow Heubeck to create a flat approach angle despite poor extension. His mid-to-high-80s cut-slider is his primary secondary, and it’s a well-commanded pitch that shows average bat-missing capabilities. His two-plane curveball has extreme depth with nearly 20 inches of induced vertical break on average. It’s a tricky pitch to command, but when batters swing at it, they miss at a high rate. Heubeck has poor command with his changeup, and he hardly throws it. However, it didn’t miss a high rate of bats in a limited sample. Heubeck could potentially up the usage on his breaking balls and air out his fastball in shorter outings out of the pen, making him an intriguing Rule 5 option.

I'm strictly playing devils advocate here........ If you were the GM of the Tigers, would you rather have one year of Skubal, or would you rather have the next 6-8 years of Clark, McGonigle and Rainer (assuming in this scenario they weren't already in the Tigers Farm system)?

They'll be getting a ton back for him in players that are either just getting in the league (think Roki Sasaki) or players in AAA (like top 20 prospects in the game). The return will help them. If they took the money they'd sign Skubal and shift it to someone like Kyle Tucker, they could rebuild the team VERY quickly. Clark and McGonigle are STUDS. They have a bery good chance to make it. Now they can also crap the bed, but they have a good chance to to make it. Then you have three. Not to mention, if they go after Bregman, that's one heck of a lineup at the end of this year..... They'll get a top pitching prospect back in return. They don't need him to be a #1. They need him to be a #2. Jobe should be back late this year/next year. he's your number one. The point is, the Tigers can do this if they use intelligence. But if they screw this up, it'll set them back to a huge degree. I always say look at the Angels when they screwed up Ohtani. This is the EXACT same thing.