Best pitcher in baseball. In 2026 he becomes a free agent at age 30. Many people are projecting him to sign up to $400M. Whether it’s $50 per for 6 years or 8 years, there’s little question Detroit can’t afford him. Anyone who believes ownership (who got bit by long term contracts to Cabrera or Baez) will add $50M per year to a payroll of around $160M in 2025 is kidding themselves. So what do you do with Skubal?
I think you should explore trading him in the off season. You might get more value than you would in the trade deadline.
I’m pretty much in this same thought at this point and not just because of the dollars. Far more to do with his age, the length of the contract, wear and tear on pitchers, and the impact it would have on other options for the roster.
I think you have to trade him this off season, yet, similar to how the market changed when Al Avila had to trade half the roster a decade back, how will the looming strike impact the market?
Or
Will teams that can afford his contract demands, LA, NY(x2) Boston etc, value adding his talent level more than worry about a strike and what a new CBA could bring?
All things considered I think you have to look at trading him this off season.
I think the Miggy contract was understood when signed that it would be bad at the end, but the front end talent first 6-7yrs was worth it. The baez, Zimmerman contracts…yea, not so much.
I was going to respond to your post , response to me in the World Series thread, but will lump it in here. You posted on the deadline article and no deals plus wasting the Skubal years due to the no trades at the deadline. And, there is some truth in that, yet Tiger history also shows that deadline deals for superstars don’t equal WS wins.
We had Verlander and Scherzer we traded for Price we emptied what little farm system we had so we didn’t, in your terms, waste those years, yet we have 0 titles to show for those splash trades and there are more than just the Price deal made by DD as he gutted the farm system. DD and Mike I went all in more than once and nothing to show for it.
Harris has been in Detroit for three seasons and has made the playoff’s in two of them. Would you be happy if we traded Clark and another top prospect, either Briceno or McGonigle for a top hitter only to not win the title and then lose Skubal a year later? Based on posting history of most in the Tiger threads you’d be demanding Harris head. So now no title no Skubal Clark and one of Briceno or McGonigle? We don’t know what other teams wanted.
I believe that part of the reason we did what we did at the deadline is to make sure we are still contending if we lose Skubal. We acquire one or two MLB ready arms for him in a trade and more I would hope. Plus we add Clark and McGonigle to the lineup to help the offense and get rid of Sweeney and Baez. Put McKinstry, Ibanez and maybe Perez on the bench as utility players where they belong and give Hinch a better lineup day in day out.
There is absolutely no point in keeping him on the team next year if you’re convinced he’s leaving in FA after 2026.
There is also no reason to trade him IMO if he’s willing to commit to a long term extension. We do have the money…I don’t understand why people say we don’t, and that’s assuming we don’t increase the payroll by $1 to keep him.
No, and I’ve said as such throughout all of the Tigers trade threads. There was and still is no reason to trade any of those guys.
That said, I don’t believe it would have cost any of those guys to get a guy like Suarez, or some other actually good reliever to complement Finnegan. It definitely wouldn’t have cost one of our top guys to get Merril Kelly.
I actually agree with you that we do have the money, yet, it depends on what Boras wants.
To play devils advocate with my post above in response to your wasting the Skubal years. Keeping the high profile prospects also keeps the payroll in check for half of the Skubal years so there is reason to not trade them as it saves the team money and allows for Skubal.
Yet
We have to look at other players due soon
Greene
Carpenter
Tork
Mize
Olson
Dingler a 3yrs from now
Jobe 3yrs from now, guessing on him and Dingler @Weaselpuppy knows these timelines better than me.
Melton can take a SP slot as well
Lots of low cost talented options to help pay for Skubal and they are talented far more than any DD acquired in the draft.
You may be right, just don’t know what teams were asking of Harris/Detroit.
You could say we overpaid for Paddock, drastically even.
Yet
Tigers have several strong catching prospects but you wish it would netted more than Paddock
As I’ve said the one area Harris has struggled in his short time in the GM role is at the deadline. Failing to trade the SP at the deadline a year or two back,even if the player screwed the team which is a legitimate question per reports.
You have to trade him, but, that was in year one for Harris and what did in that year for the front office talent acquirement is what led to the talent in the minors right now.
For now I’m happy with Harris and Hinch, he has done more than most of the Tiger GM’s / Presidents in my lifetime for minor league development and drafting. Has plenty of room to improve for sure but an impressive start to his Detroit tenure
