Throughout the month of July, Tarik Skubal’s name frequently surfaced in reports of teams eyeing rotation upgrades. He was widely considered to be a long-shot trade candidate, at best — we listed him 50th on our Top 50 trade candidate list, noting his unrivaled ability to impact a new club but also the Tigers’ unwillingness to move him — but it seemed as though teams might still try to blow the Tigers out of the water as the deadline drew nearer.
Perhaps other clubs indeed hoped to be able to do so, but Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris made clear in his post-deadline comments that Skubal was never on the cusp of moving. At a press conference to discuss the trades of Jack Flaherty, Mark Canha, Andrew Chafin and Carson Kelly, Harris was asked how close he came to trading Skubal, the presumptive Cy Young front-runner in the American League.
“Not close,” Harris said without hesitation (video link via WXYZ Detroit sports director Brad Galli). “There were a lot of rumors that floated out there. There are a lot of ’unconfirmed reports’ that are just totally inaccurate. We never came close to trading Skubal.”
Harris declined to comment on whether there was ever any temptation or an offer that made him consider the possibility. However, Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times reports that the Dodgers, who naturally had strong interest in Skubal, came away with the impression that the left-hander wasn’t available “in any scenario,” writing that one source indicated Detroit “wouldn’t talk about Skubal at all.”
On the one hand, it’s easy to shrug comments and reports along these lines off as irrelevant. What’s done is done, and Skubal is a Tiger. Nothing will change that for the time being. On the other hand, it also offers a potential glimpse into the offseason and the future. Had the Tigers been legitimately entertaining Skubal offers but simply not found an offer to their liking, he’d stand as a logical offseason trade candidate. But with Detroit’s ostensible refusal to even engage in discussions on him, it becomes all the more difficult to envision a scenario where Skubal is genuinely available this winter. If the Tigers wouldn’t even discuss him in July, when the return would theoretically be even higher, there’s little reason to think they’d give strong consideration to trading him a few months from now.
Asked whether the decision to hang onto Skubal, who’s only controlled for two additional seasons, was an indicator that Detroit would be aggressive in its offseason free agent and trade pursuits, Harris sidestepped and said his focus for now is the final two months of the season.
“It’s July right now,” said Harris. “We’ve got a lot of work to do this year. … We have a lot of young players in the big leagues who need to get a whole lot better. I think you guys are seeing some flashes of it. I think when you see some of these players, what they looked like in April and now what they look like in July, it’s a good example of what we can be as an organization. But we can’t just start looking into the winter right now. We have a lot of work to do in August and September to make sure the players on this and the players that are going to impact this team in the second half are coming up and getting better. That’s where our focus is right now.”
No kidding ? Who knew?
Well no kidding, it’s the media trying to get get hype on him. It’s all basically something for the media to talk about
In GM speak, Harris will discuss trading Skubal when a team with a SS prospect is willing to come to the table. Baltimore wouldn’t give up theirs, and no one else had one. Not the right fit this deadline. Its sad that all he was able to get for Flaherty is the Dodgers third best minor league Catcher. Maybe skipping the utility fielder in the deal would have gotten one of the Catchers closer to the Majors, like Catylpa, or Rusching.
3rd best prospect. Fangraphs #74 overall. Tigers have 2 very good catchers in Rogers and Dingler. Liranzo has a higher ceiling than Rushing and fits their timeline.
AZ would send them Lawler any day of the week, Skubal would get a huge huge haul though
I miss DD
Dan Duquette?
Dimebag Darrell
DooDoo Damien
DDDD Dumpster diving Dan Duquette!
Give it time. During his tenure here, the Tigers had the worst bullpen in baseball in many categories.
The bullpen was never the worst, just also never among the best.
And Dombrowski turned one of the worst teams in history into a World Series contender for nearly a decade, by stacking tons of great moves on top of each other (the Cabrera trade, getting Polanco, Guillen, and Fister for a bag of balls, the Scherzer trade, etc. etc.)
He’s still got it. He sold Gregory Soto to Baltimore for their #8 prospect and a lottery ticket. Another GM would have had to add a prospect just to get rid of Soto. Of course it was Baltimore. Apparently they won’t trade for a pitcher with an ERA under 4.0, so Soto is a perfect fit.
Ding-Dong Dave
David Dellucci
That’s cuz the O’s were chicken
The only good thing Harris has done in the last two deadlines is not trade Skubal. He completely botched the Rodriguez deal last year and that can’t be argued. Come this deadline we have the best soon to be free agent pitcher and we get two players from LA. Toronto gets three for a very mediocre Kikuchi including a pitcher, Bloss, who has made major league starts this year and the outfielder, Loperfido, who has been starting games for the Astros. And don’t forget Billy Wagner’s son, Will a 1B, who was hitting over .300 in Triple A. And let us not forget the signing of Maeda which has been a disaster. We now have one legitimate starting pitcher to finish the season. Montero isn’t ready, Mize, Olsen and Manning are hurt so we sure could of used a starting pitcher. But that’s okay because Harris likes the players from LA because they have a great approach at the plate. Where have we heard that before??
There was a report that the Astros offered the eventual Kikuchi package for Flaherty but Harris turned it down thinking he could do better. It also sounds like the medicals on Flaherty were a bigger deal than people think. Harris should have just taken the deal with the Astros
Harris is a “Bob Quinn” clone as he thinks he’s the smartest man in the room. Tigers will remain in mediocrity while he’s in charge
Bloss gave up 5 HR in 11 IP. That’s hard to do but apparently exactly what some Tigers fans want. The Toronto return was simply worse versions of players the Tigers already have (Madden/Montero, another 1B/DH that may or may not hit, and Baddoo 2.0). The players from LA actually fill gaps in the system.
I mean Bloss gave up 4 Hr in his final start but he only gave up 3 hrs in 66 inninings in the minors, The Astros put him in the majors too soon.
Whether its a worse return or not depends on the production going forward, but it’s obvious at least some teams were concerned about the injury risk of Flaherty.
With his past and current track record erod was/is worth diddly squat. I would have taken Bloss as a prospective pitcher but the other 2 wouldn’t have been upgrades on what we already have. Plus, at 25 and 26 years of age, they are past the point of calling them prospects.
The Tigers will be the team that benefits the most if they sign him as a F.A. They’ll know him the best, and that money will be spread out over his whole career. Drafting high school hitters are a very good idea for having a extended run of good players.
If you have a Skubal and a Jobe for their careers here, that will be fantastic. The 12/13 teams couldn’t do it so they are on the right trajectory and the amount of time Detroit has traditionally went to the World Series. They have some work to do, but they look pretty good. Lets go Tigers !
They shouldn’t have been close, either.
Then he’s a fool or a liar. Probably both. They have him for 2 more years and they’re not winning a World Series in 2 years. Probably not even making the playoffs. His value will never be higher now because of years left on contract. He just wasn’t able to stick it to the Orioles or Dodgers.
Absolutely.
There’s value in fielding a competitive team. That generates ticket sales, merchandise sales, and so on. That keeps people employed, by the team, in the stadium, at bars and restaurants near the stadium. It increases value for the brand and good will for the club.
It’s not playoffs or bust like a video game.
One guy isn’t getting u into the playoffs. 4 guys for that one guy just might. And playoffs is the goal….at very least. Tell that to Oakland
Nobody was offering 4 guys that would move the needle. Quantity doesn’t solve anything without quality. That was literally the Al Avila story. He always got quantity but rarely quality. Don’t be Al.
No quality? #2 #5 and Kjerstad who’s better then anything Tigers have on roster or in minors. Plus Stowers. 4 starters for an ace who won’t sniff playoffs with Tigers. 4 starters for one guy. Think about that.
None of us knows who might have been offered for Skubal so don’t pretend you know.
Rushing, Josue, Ryan, Hope and Ferris probably wouldn’t have gotten Harris’ attention. Probably wanted Holiday and three more from Orioles’ top 10.
Wondering what more it would have taken if u started with Norby and Stowers? That got Rogers. The catcher and Kjerstad on top? I’m guessing that gets it done.
But there’s no chance the orioles would give up basallo, Kjerstad, Norby and Stowers. I don’t think there’s an available asset that the orioles would entertain two of Mayo, Kjerstad, and Basallo for. And rightfully so.
Orioles had “World Series favorites” tag if they took the right fork in the road
Orioles give up”: 3B/1B Coby Mayo, C/1B Sam Bassallo, OF Heston Kjerstad, RHSP (AAA) Chayce McDermitt, LHSP Cade Povich…
on MLB roster.
Tigers give up LHSP Tarik Skubal (and maybe a reliever) then it would have, most likely, been a done deal.
Harris would not have turned down that deal.
You’re so confident Harris wouldn’t have turned the deal down when he claims to have not even entertained the notion of trading Skubal… anybody in their right mind knows the Tigers who are 4-5 years away from competing for a World Series should have taken a deal like that – or at the bare minimum done their due diligence in fielding offers from the highest bidders. The Tigers supposed top 10 ranked farm system is a severe overstatement as they have maybe 4 players who with high ceilings but are also 4-5 years away. Have fun trying to force Skubal to stay in Detroit and give him $50m a year to stay on a mediocre team.
I’d easily turn that deal down as the Tigers. It was Holliday plus more or bust. Tigers are last in SS WAR. Why trade for a headline of Bassalo when you can just trade Flaherty for Liranzo and then keep the cy young winner. You keep the best player, you make more revenue, your timeline to compete is next year,your players don’t get as dejected and if cards are played right and you become more attractive to free agents. Also makes management more open to actually spending. Plan should be to extend him. If your forced to sell him for less in the future so be it.
Tigers don’t need more pitching and OF, they have plenty. Greene, Meadows, Carpenter and an FA is fine. They need infield bats, specifically SS & 3B. Trading an ace for an All Star that’s better than every prospect at that position in your system combined is worth it. Trading him for players a maybe little better than ones in your system is not.
How bout “we have a front office that needs to get a whole lot better”
I slowly losing faith in Scott Harris
It’s not an impressive rebuild so far , if that’s what the goal is
Needs to be an 85 win team in 2025
I agree on losing faith. He has much to learn, but it may cost us an additional year or two of rebuild as he hopefully learns. 2025 will be another gruelling year for this club.
Tigers can be really good next year if they can stay healthy. Must find a shortstop, and have young players improve. Outfield of Greene, Meadows, Carpenter, Perez is good, Malloy at DH, Tork or Keith at 1B, Jung or Lee or Keith at 2B.
Must find an offense, period!Having a 1/1 prospect be a total bust doesn’t help, either.
Spencer Bustelson.
They just traded for their SS for next season – Trey Sweeney.
You think Ilitch, the greedy slumlord, is spending any legit money on this team, especially after getting burned so badly on the Baez and Maeda deals?
Sweeney does NOT look very promising
Corey Seager he ain’t
They were dreaming in the return
This guy has already had 2 arm surgeries, but seeing as though the Tigers have one of the worst offenses in recent years, they should have traded him.Any given night, Tigers have 3 guys in their starting lineup hitting under .200!
Scottie Harris is still trying to figure out what he has.
Detroit is going no where why not seriously listen? Could have revamped your entire farm system.
I don’t see why the Tigers don’t go all out and work out a mega-deal to extend Skubal- other than Chris Ilitch running the team like a greedy slumlord. Skubal is a core player for the team, a generational talent in the league, and the type of ace pitcher you want on your team heading into the playoffs.
Not gonna happen because his agent is Scott Boras. He will go to free agency and maximize his earnings.
That’s not necessarily true, there’s a price to buy that out. There’s always a price, it’s just a matter of ponying up the money.
Why would Skubal want to hang around this shitshow? All Harris brings in is retreads and hopes to flip them for some mediocre prospects. This summer would have been so much different if he’d have attempted to fix the biggest problem with the team… the offense.
Should have traded for Tyler O’Neill
Should have signed Matt Chapman
Should have signed Imanaga
Should have tried to find a 1B when Tork was sent down.
They won’t do these things because they are focused on the minor leagues. They can’t focus on two things at once.
Boras does not do home team friendly extensions.
He takes his players to public auctions.
He turned down just such an extension for Scherzer.
This is Max Scherzer 2.0.
Similar young star pitcher on the rise
getting closer to free agency.
Boras agent for both players.
Boras does not do team discounts.
Boras takes his best clients to the free agency auction.
Tigers made a generous offer for Scherzer that was rejected
and, predictably he went to the free agent auction.
Tigers should have dealt Scherzer as soon as Mike I’s final offer was rejected for a franchise changing return.
Ditto with Skubal.
Tigers need multiple young position players who can hit.
They could revisit this in the Winter.
They told us this at the beginning and all the analysts are shocked lol
That was a given……
The only post I made on the rumor was that the Tigers would face a rebellion from their fans if they traded Skubal.
After all those bad years they finally get what looks like a star, and they’re going to trade him? This is a guy you build a pitching staff around.
–
The senior MLBTR writers that have been through this for years politely wrote numerous times that they felt Skubal wasn’t going to
be traded. They were ignored. Doubt very much that any FO heads
in MLB thought they would trade him.
–
Wait till the off-season when Heyman, Morisey (whatever), Nightengale and others are told of a tidbit comment from some low-level staffer that sat in a brainstorming meeting; then blow it out of proportion to get clicks which is how they get paid. MLBTR reports it; adds a dozen what/if paragraphs; fans of any teams that might possibly be involved teams then show up pitchforks and storm the jail.
Every. Single. Year.
Realistically, if Detroit thinks they can be Baltimore next year with all the great young players, I would understand completely why they kept Skubal. If not, then Detroit should have traded him
mlbnyyfan;
That’s interesting……….
The rap on Baltimore this year from fans like you is that being as they have so many good young position players they should have batched up a bunch of them to get a big-name, dominating pitcher. So what we have is this:
Fans find fault for not taking extreme actions either as a buyer or a seller. If we look at the trading deadline there wasn’t a big-name impact player that was moved….a few good ones, but hardly a star.
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In fact, I’m thinking that the long-shot winner when we look back at the trading deadline may well be the Cleveland Guardians. They now have the best winning percentage in MLB. They needed a RH hitting OF that hits LH pitching well, and can play both RF and CF as they platoon a LH hitting CF with a RH hitting RF. They got that in Lane Thomas for a small outlay (and he’s a vet that can also help stabilize the clubhouse along with Ramiriez, Naylor and Hedges).
They have a killer bullpen – easily the best in MLB – but needed a starter that can go 4-1/3 to 6 innings a game. For next to nothing they got Alex Cobb for a decent Class A pitcher. Cobb doesn’t have to be great. he just needs to be healthy and start maybe 8-10 games in the regular season. A veteran pitching in front of a solid defense. Plus they’re rehabbing Matthew Boyd – and before laughing – realize that the Guardians have the record they do because they work so well with pitchers (that you never heard of).
Comical how many fans do not see the big picture.
The Orioles window of contention and for a World Series trophy is currently wide open.
With Skubal, the Orioles become a favorite for not only the AL East Title, but for the World Series Title with Skubal, Burnes 1-2 pitching in the playoffs and WS
Currently, the Orioles have only 1 starter who puts fear in the eyes of opposing lineups and that is Corbin Burnes.
Corbin Burns cannot pitch every game in the playoffs and if the Orioles make it the World Series.(a very big iff with the current rotation).
And, Corbin Burnes will be gone in free agency at the end of this season.
The 2 #5 starters the Orioles acquired @ the ’24 Trade Deadline will not move the needle in favor winning in the playoffs.
It will be like batting practice pitchers to playoff caliber lineups and a negative for the Orioles in the playoffs.
So, moving forward, going cheap @ the Trade Deadline does not advance the Orioles World Series Championship prospects.
As long as Scott Harris doesn’t think outside of the box, he’ll be buried in it.
Good for the Tigers and Tigers fans. It’s not the Tigers’ duty to provide their best players to other teams.
Even Evan Petzold has turned on this bungling front office and LO AND BELHOLD he shanked/compared Hinch to Ausmus! LOL! I knew Pee Wee Harris was a con artist when he signed perennially-injured Matt Boyd to a $10m contract. “Nice-guy” Boyd used to time having his usual child-birth in the middle of the season for a paternity leave and then blew out his elbow for Harris to put a cherry on top of his dismal time in Detroit. E-Rod and Maeda weren’t mistakes…they were red lights flashing about Pee Wee’s ineptness. Flaherty was stolen by the Dodgers as I warned he would be while the avacado-toast munching Pee Wee bragged he got the deal he wanted…uh huh. As long as Hinch can blame his idiocy on Harris, and Harris can blame his idiocy on skinflint Chris Ilitch, the endless “rebuild” will continue.
Oops….as surprised as I was that bought-and-paid for Petzold would criticize his idol Hinch, it turns out, that it wasn’t scrawny Evan after all, but the one FP writer who doesn’t curry favor for access, Carlos Monarrez. Check it out…he treats Pee Wee Harris like the yuppie scum he is and the bloviating Hinch as a worse manager than Ausmus…which he is.
BTW, Tork has 35 RBI in 47 games with the Hens….tell me why Urshela is still on the team instead of Tork, or Canha lasted until the deadline while Spencer spun his wheels in Toledo? Hint: Hinch and Tork hate each other and one of them will be gone before the ’25 season…..and it won’t be Tork.
And then Tork turns around goes 0-5 with 3 Ks last night. He’s apparently done with “going to RF” and is pull-happy again. If he is going down in flames, at least he’s back to the swing that got him a 1-1 and ticket to The Show. Another franchise is the best solution for him….the Snakes for instance where he can live at his new home and be left alone to work his way past the Hinch/Coolbaugh travesty..
And today belted his 10th dinger and 10th double…both smoked to LF….the man has returned to what got him to The Show, using his lightening bat-speed, hips getting through first, driving his back and shoulder muscles into the swing. He has widened his stance considerably which should make his swing-path more consistent. Maybe Toledo was a good idea because Hinch and his coaches either couldn’t figure it out or Spencer didn’t trust them after Coolbaugh’s reign of terror, to comply. Remember, Hinch knows all the words and phrases but could never hit and can’t teach what he doesn’t know
I already cannot stand Harris! If you watch his pressers, he just has this smug “I’m so much smarter than you all” aura about him. And so far his tenure hasn’t been very impressive. You have the best rental arm in all of MLB and you get jack $hit for Flaherty, when the Jays got a haul for Kikuchi. And I don’t see Chris Illitch spending squat next year. He’ll keep depositing checks instead of writing them like he has since his dad passed away. I miss Mr. I SO MUCH! Hopefully I’m wrong, but this is my opinion.
This reads like a “face saving” comment and story.
Some of the most respected sports reporters covering MLB were reporting that the Tigers were open to listening to offers and would only consider a “Soto to San Diego” type return for Skubal.
Was their any connection between the Yankees lowball offer for Skubal being turned down and the Flaherty trade discussions?!
The fiasco with Flaherty’s medical records and the Yankees lowballiing the
Tigers and then getting pissed when their lowball offer for Flaherty was rejected and then leaking Flaherty’s medicals to other teams
(teams that should have followed proper procedures incl;uding Federal HIPAA regulations regarding privacy and disclosure of another person’s medical records)
that tanked Flaherty”s market value.
There should be an independent investigation.
Can MLB be trusted to do a “transparent investigation” and publicly reveal all the facts and findings?!
I doubt it.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for any Tigers-Yankees trade deals anytime in the near or far future.
If I was Scott Harris, I would not trust the NYY Front Office
after what they pulled on the Tigers @ the ’24 Trade Deadline.
It was this king of arrogant BS by the NYY Front office that also cost them many other players in trades and delivered Justin Verlander
to the Astros instead of the NYY,
Cashman pulled a slimy trick on Harris but all it did was harden the Dodgers resolve to get him. They whittled Harris’ ask down to Sweeny and a switch-hitting catcher who will soon not switch-hit or catch. Sweeny is off to a flying start at Toledo and may turn out pretty well for the SS-deprived Tigers in ’25. BTW, only the Yanks, Dodgers, and maybe Astros saw Flaherty’s medicals so Cashman’s little rumor campaign didn’t make much difference other than nobody will trust him again.
Are you offering me money….how much?