Will Tigers Pony up for Skubal

[chasfh]

13 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Ugh...why are people in denial of actual facts? The facts speak for themselves...without Skubal the last 2 seasons, the Tigers were barely a .500 team. No playoffs. That's not being negative, it's an actual fact. Will they still try to win? Yes, but without Skubal, they're not nearly as good. Replace him with a Toledo arm or a reject from some bottom feeding team? Yeah, good luck with that. 

I'm looking for a receipt, Michael Palin, not an argument. 😉

 

[gehringer_2]

38 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Ugh...why are people in denial of actual facts? The facts speak for themselves...without Skubal the last 2 seasons, the Tigers were barely a .500 team. No playoffs. That's not being negative, it's an actual fact. Will they still try to win? Yes, but without Skubal, they're not nearly as good. Replace him with a Toledo arm or a reject from some bottom feeding team? Yeah, good luck with that. 

I have to assume Harris thinks he can just flip the switch on his drafts - go pitching heavy and have Fetter & Co. turn them into several Cy Young candidates in 6 months. Hard to see what other plan is in place.

Edited 18 hours ago by gehringer_2

[AlaskanTigersFan]

9 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

I have to assume Harris thinks he can just flip the switch on his drafts - go pitching heavy and have Fetter & Co. turn them into several Cy Young candidates in 6 months. Hard to see what other plan is in place.

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. 

[AlaskanTigersFan]

13 hours ago, 1984Echoes said:

PS: In Black and White:

(I picked a starting point just to pick a starting point... (Starting with OUR offseason around Oct 22nd or so...) and there is NO way I can continue piling up the FATALISTIC versus OPTIMISTIC viewpoints in this thread...). It's endless.

This isn't spin. It's pure fatalism versus optimism. And it's all over this thread in pure black and white ("We WON'T CONTEND UNTIL 2030 if we trade Skubal!!")

Omigosh... there is just so much OVER the TOP fatalism I had to stop.

Here is just a small sampling (my comments are in italics and brackets...):

 

Fatalism:

On 10/22/2025 at 8:49 AM, chasfh said:

I think you’re right that trading Skubal … could have an impact on their psyche and thus performance afterward that …

(Because trading Skubal means the rest of the team will just give up.)

 

Optimism:

On 10/22/2025 at 10:25 PM, Tiger337 said:

In 2024, the Tigers gave their team the message that they were giving up on the season and then they couldn't stop winning!  So, maybe they needed that message…

Fatalism:

On 10/23/2025 at 8:45 AM, chasfh said:

Then maybe we should trade all our good players and pitchers for bags of balls and give up on 2026 so we can finally win our ring! …

Fatalism:

On 10/31/2025 at 8:46 AM, chasfh said:

We should probably remember if the Tigers were to trade Skubal, they could kiss Bichette or Bregman or Tucker or Cease or just about any other halfway decent free agent goodbye. There’s no way any good player is going to want to come to a team …

 

DOUBLE Fatalism!!!:

On 10/31/2025 at 8:46 AM, chasfh said:

And this doesn’t even take into account the effect such a trade …would have on the rest of the guys who are already here, as well as the guys who are due to come up. Who’s going to gladly bust their ass for a team that purposely trades their way out of playoff contention?

(Because trading Skubal means the rest of the team will just GIVE UP!!! New kids coming up from the minors are NOT going to bust their ass to make MLB... they’re just going to give up! Hinch is just going to give up! EVERYBODY on the Tigers is just going to GIVE UP because we traded Skubal!!! OMIGOSH!!! The END of the WORLD!!!)

 

Optimism:

On 11/4/2025 at 6:20 AM, oblong said:

...  If you think you have a good system in place you should be able to replace him. You don't need back to back Cy Young pitchers to replace him but a couple of players who might finish top ten. 

Fatalism:

On 11/4/2025 at 8:27 AM, chasfh said:

If we trade Skubal, our trajectory will go backward...

 

Optimism:

On 11/4/2025 at 1:25 PM, TcFlint said:

Wrong!  With Jobe, McGonigle, Anderson, Clark, Olson, Melton, Bicerno, Hamm, Green, Torkelson, Dingler, free agent signings, and whatever prospects we get for Skubal (if he is traded) we will NOT go backwards!!!  One more year only for Skubal and a prospect in 2030 is malpractice IMO and is more than likely what we are going to get.

Optimism:

On 11/4/2025 at 10:51 AM, AlaskanTigersFan said:

… I also think next year would be an adjustment anyways while waiting for McGonigle, Clark, Briceno and Liranzo to make their debuts and break in. Not to mention, hopefully Jobe should be back in August (fingers crossed). There's your true core to add to Greene, Dingler, Keith and Carpenter (hopefully Tork too but we'll see). …
Tigers could make plenty of trades with Meadows, Max Anderson …, Lee, Wenceel Perez etc... to add to their pitching. There's a logjam there which could get us some decent pitchers. 

... So yes, if I could trade Skubal and get all of those (multiple players in ATF’s trade proposals…) in the top 10-15 range... I'd do it. ...

Fatalism:

On 11/4/2025 at 11:51 AM, chasfh said:

… position his team to get back to that same place no sooner than three years from now, which is 2028, at best, and probably more like 2029 or even 2030 (!!!).

(HOLY FATALISM BATMAN !!!)

For one thing, the fans would go absolutely ape**** (!!!) after …

But what is arguably even worse is that Harris would lose the players in the organization … Riley Greene or Spencer Torkelson, Dillon Dingler, or a Jackson Jobe, or Kevin McGonigle or Max Clark or a dozen other ranked young talents

(IT’S the END OF THE WORLD!!! JUST GIVE UP!!!)

… but also, the free agents outside of this organization. What halfway decent free agent in his right mind is going to sign with a team operating with the expressed intent of going backward the year they come aboard? Who on god's green earth would want to sign up for that? And not only free agents this year, but free agents every single year Scott Harris is running this team. No top-tier free agent would ever want to devote … at any given moment, they are willing to blow it all up and go backwards because it might pay out four or five years now. Trading Tarik Skubal this winter is practically guaranteed to limit our prospective free agent pool to guys who are willing to sign one-year prove-it deals, and nothing more, for the rest of Harris's tenure with us.

…

(HOLY HYPERBOLE BATMAN!!!) 

(Like I said… END OF THE WORLD FATALISM!)

After the Tigers win 3 straight World Series (Following the above theory: “But SCOTT HARRIS is running that team! I will NEVER sign with a team run by Scott Harris because…” Because Why?)

In black and white.

 

Fatalism:

On 11/4/2025 at 1:08 PM, 4hzglory said:

…  Trading Skubal would all but guarantee the Tigers would be only getting FA's who need to rebuild their value, and that once homegrown players reach FA, if they are any good, they are likely gone.

…

(Because trading Skubal means ALL our pending FA’s will be traded.

…

NOT.

There is NO PROOF that ALL future pending FA’s will just be traded. Where is this fatalism coming from? Especially since Harris has yet to have HIS team on the field, these are still mostly Avila’s players. I trust Harris to make GOOD judgements on which Avila players he wants to keep long term (I start with Dingler and Keith, plus…?), and which of his own players are good enough to sign to long-term extensions. Skubal is just too old to sign to a 10 year $400 mill contract, and is two years too early for a true Harris team. Plus pitchers like to blow out their arms and, again, he’ll be 30 years old at the START of any new contract in 2027…

IMO.

Again, IMO, I think trading Skubal means ZILCH for future extension/trade decisions.

But maybe I’m being too Optimistic and should be more Fatalistic?)

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 🙂 

 

 

[gehringer_2]

5 minutes ago, AlaskanTigersFan said:

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. 

The thing is, who of those guys separated from the pack last season?  Guys who are going to be impact pitchers tend to show fast and are generally going to blow through the low minors. Guys who go stop to stop are going to get there at 26 and be back of the rotation or converted to middle relief. 

Edited 18 hours ago by gehringer_2

[AlaskanTigersFan]

50 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Ugh...why are people in denial of actual facts? The facts speak for themselves...without Skubal the last 2 seasons, the Tigers were barely a .500 team. No playoffs. That's not being negative, it's an actual fact. Will they still try to win? Yes, but without Skubal, they're not nearly as good. Replace him with a Toledo arm or a reject from some bottom feeding team? Yeah, good luck with that. 

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. 

[Sports_Freak]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

I'm looking for a receipt, Michael Palin, not an argument. 😉

 

That's uh....Sir Michael Palin to you...peons!!  😆😆

[1984Echoes]

2 hours ago, chasfh said:

Care to produce the receipt in which I literally said the entire Org WILL fall apart if we DO trade Skubal?

These are some of your BEST:

On 10/31/2025 at 8:46 AM, chasfh said:

And this doesn’t even take into account the effect such a trade …would have on the rest of the guys who are already here, as well as the guys who are due to come up. Who’s going to gladly bust their ass for a team that purposely trades their way out of playoff contention?

(My right now comments): so ALL of our players are just going to give up according to you if we trade Skubal, including all of our minor leaguers coming up. Because who on this team is going to actually try... if we trade Skubal? Pretty fatalistic if you ask me.

On 11/4/2025 at 11:51 AM, chasfh said:

… position his team to get back to that same place no sooner than three years from now, which is 2028, at best, and probably more like 2029 or even 2030.

(My right now comments): 2029? 2030? Seriously?

Continuing with your same post:

... But what is arguably even worse is that Harris would lose the players in the organization … Riley Greene or Spencer Torkelson, Dillon Dingler, or a Jackson Jobe, or Kevin McGonigle or Max Clark or a dozen other ranked young talents

… but also, the free agents outside of this organization. What halfway decent free agent in his right mind is going to sign with a team operating with the expressed intent of going backward the year they come aboard? Who on god's green earth would want to sign up for that? And not only free agents this year, but free agents every single year Scott Harris is running this team. No top-tier free agent would ever want to devote … at any given moment, they are willing to blow it all up and go backwards because it might pay out four or five years now. Trading Tarik Skubal this winter is practically guaranteed to limit our prospective free agent pool to guys who are willing to sign one-year prove-it deals, and nothing more, for the rest of Harris's tenure with us.

 

So you are LITERALLY (YOUR words, YOUR posts) saying that if we trade Skubal:

No quality free agent (except 1 year guys) will EVER sign with the Tigers as long as Harris is GM.

All of our players will quit playing hard. And that includes all our minor leaguers breaking into MLB soon.

And most likely we will not be able to contend again until 2029 or 2030.

Is that literal enough for you? Is that NOT the entire Org? Or do I need the actual words that I used to appear in one of your posts in order to satisfy your demand?

 

Fatalism BEYOND BELIEF.

IMO. 

 

 

 

Edited 16 hours ago by 1984Echoes

[AlaskanTigersFan]

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. 

[CMRivdogs]

Not much new here

 

[AlaskanTigersFan]

On 11/4/2025 at 8:48 AM, AlaskanTigersFan said:

You already answered your own question. 

The trade I WANT to happen is Skubal for Andrew Painter, Aiden Miller and Justin Crawford. *IF* the Phillies re-sign Schwarber, this is VERY realistic to happen. They will be all in next year and a rotation of Skubal, Wheeler, Nola, Luzardo........ WOW! This all hinges on if the Phillies re-sign Schwarbs though. They won't go for Tucker as their window of contention is 2-3 years. So they need immediate impact, then Dave can leave an go on to the next team.

The two more likely scenarios are a trade to Seattle or a trade to the Mets. 

Seattle - Colt Emerson, Lazaro Monetez and Harry Ford for Skubal

Mets - Benge/or Williams, Tong, Sproat for Skubal. Even though I've been saying this for 3 weeks (look back on this thread), now media must be listening to me: "The Mets might be at the front of that line. A previous report from The Athletic's Will Sammon, noted the Mets "are expected to get involved" in Skubal trade talks. Sammon also opined that the Tigers' asking price may be "two top-level starting pitchers and a position player prospect."

And you really can't rule out the Dodgers. I know that's very cliche, but Sasaki + De Pala + Alex Freeland could be a possibility too.

The only hesitation I have with this is the Dodgers are trying to be the destination for Japanese superstars. They've invested a ton of money into Japan and now stream every home game in Japan. So for them to give up Sasaki who I really think legit, may be the most underrated player in MLB, would be beyond unfathomable to the Japanese. So that's the only reason I don't list this as likely to happen even though that's the cost.

TLDR: If the Phillies sign Schwarber, Skubal better start packing. If not, listen on the Mariners and Mets making the most noise. There could always be a surprise team, but those four in my opinion are in a category all on their own..........

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

 

Edited 15 hours ago by AlaskanTigersFan

[papalawrence]

8/350. Just do it Harris

[AlaskanTigersFan]

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

[1984Echoes]

17 minutes ago, AlaskanTigersFan said:

... and it slowly crept into being personal attacks that festered. 

Let's please keep it civil...

???

Please explain to me how "These are your posts. These are your words." is some sort of personal attack?

[AlaskanTigersFan]

Just now, 1984Echoes said:

???

Please explain to me how "These are your posts. These are your words." is some sort of personal attack?

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

[Sports_Freak]

12 minutes ago, papalawrence said:

8/350. Just do it Harris

I personally would prefer to sign him longterm. Its not my money. But if there's no way to sign him, keep him for '26 and hope to make a playoff run? Trade him at the deadline as a short term rental? Or hang onto to him and let him walk and only get a comp pick? 

[1984Echoes]

2 minutes ago, AlaskanTigersFan said:

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

You mean "off the rails"?

Yeah, I'm not looking for, or desire that either.

I just wanted to call out two diametrically opposed viewpoints that are proliferating on the forum as to the Tigers future playoff chances... with, or without, Skubal.

[AlaskanTigersFan]

1 minute ago, 1984Echoes said:

You mean "off the rails"?

Yeah, I'm not looking for, or desire that either.

I just wanted to call out two diametrically opposed viewpoints that are proliferating on the forum as to the Tigers future playoff chances... with, or without, Skubal.

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. 

[SoCalTiger]

11 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

I'm not feeling fatalistic, but not optimistic either.  I am expecting them to keep Skubal, but not add a lot to support him.  

After listening to Scot Harris it does seem a certainty.

[SoCalTiger]

2 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

I have to assume Harris thinks he can just flip the switch on his drafts - go pitching heavy and have Fetter & Co. turn them into several Cy Young candidates in 6 months. Hard to see what other plan is in place.

Except there isn't anything currently on the minor league pitching shelf and future drafts take some time. I think you have hit on the main fault of our system that is overlooked when Harris hypes our minor leagues and that is a void of pitching. Teams now trading want pitching in deals and we do not have any to offer which is probably why our trade deadline additions last season were so thin. 

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, papalawrence said:

8/350. Just do it Harris

If Dylan Cease can get seven years, eight for Skubal probably isn’t enough. Probably 350 isn’t, either. 

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, AlaskanTigersFan said:

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

Red Sox

[papalawrence]

3 minutes ago, chasfh said:

If Dylan Cease can get seven years, eight for Skubal probably isn’t enough. Probably 350 isn’t, either. 

Probably true. But try. The past month Skubal said that his camp never said 400 and he seemed to say he would like to remain in Detroit. He might take 8/350. I doubt he is like Soto who turned down the Yankees at 15/750 for the Mets 15/765. 

[1984Echoes]

May or may not be real...

Some smoke from L.A. ....

ATF may, or may not get, his big Dodgers trade (PS: if Glasnow is included he better be a throw-in because I attach very little future value... or maybe turn him into a closer. I think THAT might maximize his value as a strike-em-out shut-them-down reliever that we don't currently have...):

Dodgers 'in talks' to trade for Tarik Skubal: Report

According to KTLA-TV in Los Angeles’ David Pingalore, the Dodgers are “in talks on a potential mega trade for (Detroit Tigers) ace Tarik Skubal.”

 

I don't know if Pingalore is just another talking head or if he does get some insider info from the Dodgers team...

Just posting those rumors as they come down the pipeline.

 

I would really like Sheehan. I think he could be dominate. And would be a worthy replacement for Skubal (after Fetter gets his mitts on him...).

[Toddwert]

whos David Pingalore?