Scott Harris, president of baseball operations for the Tigers, rebutted suggestions that the team should have delayed trading ace pitcher Tarik Skubal to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Over the weekend, ahead of Monday’s trade deadline, Skubal, recipient of two consecutive Cy Young Awards, was moved to the Dodgers.
In exchange, the Tigers acquired outfield prospect Zyhir Hope along with right-handed pitching prospects River Ryan and Brady Smith. There was speculation on whether Harris might have achieved better offers by waiting to trade the standout pitcher.
Harris clarified to the media, “We entered this process with a clear vision of the deal we wanted to secure. We thoroughly understood what each potential partner had on the table. With a player of Tarik Skubal’s caliber, the market dynamics at the deadline are unique compared to others. It’s understandable to think you should hold out until the last minute to optimize the return, but that’s not how it works with top-tier players.”
Harris further explained, “No team in pursuit of Tarik Skubal was holding out for other options and planning to come back to him if unsuccessful elsewhere. The decision each team made to acquire Skubal wasn’t influenced by external market conditions.”
Harris also said that it became clear through conversations with other organizations that the market was set for someone like Skubal and that the Tigers “could steer it as fast or as slow as we wanted to” when it came to finding the right move for the organization.
“We felt like we put ourselves in a position on Saturday night where it was abundantly clear what every organization was going to be able to do, and we laid down all the offers in front of us and we chose one. I’m very confident that we absolutely maximized the return we could get for Tarik Skubal,” Harris said.
The Tigers executive also said that several teams pursued Skubal aggressively before Detroit’s front office decided that the Dodgers’ offer was the best deal, describing the interest in the star pitcher as a “bidding war.”
Even with Skubal on to a new club, Harris explained that they did believe a playoff run still could be in the cards for the Tigers, who also dealt starter Casey Mize to the Padres.
The ballclub is 2 ½ games back of a wild-card spot in the American League.