Will Tigers Pony up for Skubal

[gehringer_2]

34 minutes ago, RatkoVarda said:

Passan spitballing 10/400+ for Skubal

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/45006796/mlb-2025-contracts-passan-predicts-megadeals-600-million-henderson-de-la-cruz-tucker-skenes-skubal

 

Do you think Boras Venmo'd or direct deposited the gratuity?

[oblong]

40 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I agree with all this, although I would only say that although it's true Boras works for Skubal, I think it's unlikely he's going to meddle much with what Boras does, or even provide firm guidance for what should be negotiated by Boras, who's been through this rodeo since way before Skubal was born so he knows exactly how this works, and Skubal has little if any idea about that. I think it's most likely that Boras drives the negotiation process 100%, and his clients' involvement is limited to following Boras's recommendation on whether to accept or reject any offer he presents to the player.

I don't necessarily agree with the bolded part.  Yes, players focus on playing and all that entails but I don't think they're blind to the process or just go with whatever they're told, especially someone with a life changing contract waiting for them.  Skubal will get a deal that sets up his family for generations and puts them on a lifetstyle commensurate with hollywood and business moguls.  I don't expect Skubal to cave or give the Tigers a break but he will go where he wants to be if the price is also right because it's his life.

[gehringer_2]

2 minutes ago, oblong said:

I don't necessarily agree with the bolded part.  Yes, players focus on playing and all that entails but I don't think they're blind to the process or just go with whatever they're told, especially someone with a life changing contract waiting for them.  Skubal will get a deal that sets up his family for generations and puts them on a lifetstyle commensurate with hollywood and business moguls.  I don't expect Skubal to cave or give the Tigers a break but he will go where he wants to be if the price is also right because it's his life.

Appropos of this - I believe in a recent interview Tony Clark specifically mentioned Skubal as a guy on the Tigers who was 'engaged' on MLBPA issues.

[MichiganCardinal]

On 5/1/2025 at 11:31 AM, Motor City Sonics said:

But, I just have a strong feeling that we won't even have a season in 2027.   This upcoming CBA is going to be a war.  

I agree, and I would go a step further to say that I think the sport needs it. The owners need to enter the room and refuse to start negotiations without a salary cap. I don't care if they lose two seasons. They need to do it right.

The way it's heading with this pay-for-play nonsense, it's going to be the Yankees, Mets, and Dodgers in a revolving door the next 5-10 years with billion dollar payrolls. The smaller markets, along with the cheap-to-reasonable owners (and I include Chris in that category) need to band together and say enough is enough.

A year of only MiLB would also be a breath of fresh air. That's a more fun product to attend at a cheaper price.

[chasfh]

51 minutes ago, oblong said:

I don't necessarily agree with the bolded part.  Yes, players focus on playing and all that entails but I don't think they're blind to the process or just go with whatever they're told, especially someone with a life changing contract waiting for them.  Skubal will get a deal that sets up his family for generations and puts them on a lifetstyle commensurate with hollywood and business moguls.  I don't expect Skubal to cave or give the Tigers a break but he will go where he wants to be if the price is also right because it's his life.

I wouldn't say Skubal is completely ignorant of every aspect of negotiating a free agent contract, but I doubt that he's driving Boras throughout the negotiations. Most players are probably smart enough to know what they want as bottom line points and communicate those to agents like Boras, but not only do I doubt that players are savvy about the minute intricacies attended to evaluating competing proposals, I would bet that Boras is very good about leading players away from requests he views as suboptimal or even potentially destructive to careers, both theirs and his. I don't think Boras became the best negotiator in the game by taking orders from players like a restaurant waiter.

[Tiger337]

1 minute ago, MichiganCardinal said:

I agree, and I would go a step further to say that I think the sport needs it. The owners need to enter the room and refuse to start negotiations without a salary cap. I don't care if they lose two seasons. They need to do it right.

The way it's heading with this pay-for-play nonsense, it's going to be the Yankees, Mets, and Dodgers in a revolving door the next 5-10 years with billion dollar payrolls. The smaller markets, along with the cheap-to-reasonable owners (and I include Chris in that category) need to band together and say enough is enough.

A year of only MiLB would also be a breath of fresh air. That's a more fun product to attend at a cheaper price.

I do care if they lose two seasons.  At my age, I don't want them to lose any seasons.  I think the argument about about large market teams dominating the game is overblown. People have been saying this my whole life, but the game has remained competitive and popular.   I don't think it's worth losing seasons.  That being said, I think a salary floor is more important to the health of the game than a salary cap.  I think teams slashing their budgets and not even attempting to win is a bigger problem  than teams spending more than everyone else.  

[gehringer_2]

I don't even think the salary cap is the issue as much as it is revenue nationalization and I don't see how you get there. What good will it do to have a cap if half the teams can't afford to get to it? There are some concepts out there that I think do work - capping single salaries at a % of a team total or a cap figure it good for any team sport, and simply fixing a total revenue % to go the salaries league wide is a core concept in winning long term labor peace. Right now the players will not give any ground on max salaries because they see big max numbers as what eventually pull everyone else up. I sort of doubt that is actually true but the if fixed the % of total revenue going into the salary pool it would break the tie between max and total salaries.

It's not for lack of workable concepts - the problem is the haves have gotten themselves into such an advantageoud position it's going to be impossible to get them to come back to the pack.

Edited yesterday at 05:16 PM by gehringer_2

[oblong]

philisophically the problem is you have one side (The players) with a single goal.  The other side is made up of factions with different goals.    Is the fact that the owners can't get their collective **** together a problem for the players to solve?

 

[KL2]

22 minutes ago, oblong said:

philisophically the problem is you have one side (The players) with a single goal.  The other side is made up of factions with different goals.    Is the fact that the owners can't get their collective **** together a problem for the players to solve?

 

While the players might have a single concept, make money. I would hardly classify it as a unified goal. Heck they had a mutiny last year because they couldnt get on the same page abotu who should be the focus of money-making growth. Young players? vets? top teir free agents? Middle tier?. There is also questions on if they can agree on what they want/prioritize when talking to owners as well. 

[MichiganCardinal]

2 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I do care if they lose two seasons.  At my age, I don't want them to lose any seasons.  I think the argument about about large market teams dominating the game is overblown. People have been saying this my whole life, but the game has remained competitive and popular.   I don't think it's worth losing seasons.  That being said, I think a salary floor is more important to the health of the game than a salary cap.  I think teams slashing their budgets and not even attempting to win is a bigger problem  than teams spending more than everyone else.  

Fair. I was probably being a little hyperbolic, I'm sure I would care.

My overarching point is that the owners totally botched the 1994-95 lockout, and have been just punting the problem down the line ever since. The state of Major League Baseball right now is that you have five teams (NYY, NYM, LAD, PHI, and TOR) that make up about 30% of the total market space in the league. On the other end of the spectrum, you have a handful of teams whose fanbases naturally want nothing to do with them right now because their ownership is a mess and either can't or won't spend like they need to (MIA, TB, OAK, COL, PIT, CIN - CWS and MIL as well to a certain extent as well). And then you have everyone else, who try as they might, will never spend with the upper echelon, and so has to just hope to have their farm system can knock it out of the park once every decade in order for them to make a run -- just for them to sell everyone and everything when it comes time to pay up.

I do think it's fixable, but it's going to take a significant change, and I can't imagine any real fix happening without losing a season. I'm not smart enough to know all the solutions that are necessary, but I'm sure it is some combination of a floor, a cap, and revenue sharing.

[Hongbit]

3 hours ago, oblong said:

 

And Boras works for Skubal.  I see lots of comments like "No was Boras lets that happen..." all the time.  Ultimately it's up to the player.  The player has a responsibility to themselves and to his peers and those who follow. But that doesn't mean if Boras wants to be as cuthroat as possible the player has to go along. If there is such a thing as sentimental feelings or 'hometown discounts' that's ok.  Boras has to go along with it if that's what his client prefers. 

 

 

Typically, players that feel this way don’t hire Scott Boras.

[gehringer_2]

21 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

Typically, players that feel this way don’t hire Scott Boras.

and/or Boras isn't interested in those players as clients!

[Tigermojo]

Skubal is making over $10 million this year and he'll get a significant raise next year. He's already set for life so why not go for the biggest payout in two years? No I don't think the Tigers will be the team who signs him and I don't think they should.

[oblong]

I'm not at all suggesting Skubal will give a significant discount to the Tigers, or anything.  My point is that it's not always about squeezing every last nickel out of a team and ultimately it's the player that picks the contract for their reasons.  Scott Boras is Tarik Skubal's employee.   There's more to an agent's performance than just a contract and there's more to a contract than the dollars/years.

 

 

 

[Hongbit]

32 minutes ago, oblong said:

I'm not at all suggesting Skubal will give a significant discount to the Tigers, or anything.  My point is that it's not always about squeezing every last nickel out of a team and ultimately it's the player that picks the contract for their reasons.  Scott Boras is Tarik Skubal's employee.   There's more to an agent's performance than just a contract and there's more to a contract than the dollars/years.

 

 

 

By the same accord, he’s part of a very small players union.  One which the top players salaries raise the bar for everyone else.  If he’s loyal to his fellow players, he owes it to them to get the most possible as starting pitcher.  The next guy SP in line for a big deal is relying on him to squeeze out as much as possible.

Edited yesterday at 08:02 PM by Hongbit