Scott Harris: Tigers were ‘not close’ to trading Tarik Skubal at deadline

Scott Harris: Tigers were ‘not close’ to trading Tarik Skubal at deadline

The 2024 MLB Trade Deadline has come and gone. It wasn’t as enthralling as in past years, but one of the biggest storylines was how some organizations did selling in the pitching market–specifically the starting pitching market.

The Toronto Blue Jays, for example, got a phenomenal return package from the Houston Astros for rental southpaw Yusei Kikuchi, who’s been fairly mediocre this season. The Miami Marlins received Connor Norby–a top-5 prospect in the league’s top farm system–plus Kyle Stowers for Trevor Rogers, in the midst of the worst season of his career.

It was a seller’s market, especially in the pitching market. Though the hottest name was Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, an AL Cy Young candidate. He didn’t get moved, and Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris revealed that no team was close to plucking away their 27-year-old starter.

“There were a lot of rumors that floated out there,” he said Thursday, according to Brad Galli of WXYZ Detroit. “There are a lot of ’unconfirmed reports’ that are just totally inaccurate. We never came close to trading Skubal.”

Multiple teams were reportedly interested in Skubal’s services, including the Los Angeles Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles, two contenders.

Ironically enough, Detroit traded starter Jack Flaherty to Los Angeles in the waning moments at the deadline. Though his actual price tag was considerably lower than what it was expected to be–especially relative to the cost that other (worse) starters went for over the final 24 hours.

Skubal leads qualified starters in ERA (2.35), ERA+ (181) while ranking in the top-3 in FIP (2.58) and in the top-6 in strikeout rate (30.0) plus K-BB% (25.3). Skubal has two more years left of control beyond 2024.

2024 MLB Trade Deadline Winners: The Tampa Bay Rays

Furthermore, Detroit’s farm system–specifically with their position players–don’t have great top-end talent; Skubal could’ve returned several impact bats to replenish that need, especially from Baltimore.

Scott Harris can still trade him in the offseason for a reasonable haul if he chooses to. The Tigers are six games below .500 at 52-58 and are 8.5 games out of the third-and-final Wild Card spot.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do this year,” Harris said. “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.”

***

Click Here for more MLB Content

Subscribe to Vendetta’s Twitch

Subscribe to Vendetta’s YouTube

Check out the Vendetta Shop