All right, Tarik Skubal. Put your money where your mouth is.
If you’re really, actually, truly serious about returning to Detroit and playing the rest of your career with the Tigers, how about you and I make a little wager?
Because I’m willing to bet my monthly salary that you aren’t signing what’s likely to be a $400 million contract with the Tigers this offseason.
Of course, this means Skubal has to accept my wager and bet his monthly salary, which works out to around $2.6 million.
Oh, you want to know much a sportswriter like me makes in a month? Let’s just put it this way: I’ve been known to purchase more than a few cans of cat food. And I don’t have a cat.
Sportswriting: It isn’t for the faint of heart – or weak digestive tracts.
OK, back to
Skubal, who probably feeds his cats caviar. The former Tigers ace made his borderline ridiculous comments on the “Pardon My Take” podcast Aug. 7.
“I would love to play my whole career in Detroit,” he said. “And hopefully those negotiations can pick back up in November once the playoffs are done. Hopefully [the Tigers] are involved with everything. I would love to return. I've got nothing but good things to say about the city of Detroit.”
Unfortunately, the podcast hosts didn’t follow up with this question, which is the only question that matters after such a statement: “Are you willing to take less money to return to Detroit, or do they have to beat out every other offer from deep-pocket suitors like the Dodgers and Yankees?”
If you’ve listened to this podcast before, you know the hosts aren’t exactly Woodward and Bernstein. They’re there to play nice and lob a bunch of softballs at their guests. It’s entertainment, not journalism.
I’m a journalist and more than once I’ve asked players headed to free agency about giving their team a hometown discount. They often bristle at this question. If you want to get a player mad at you, ask them about their money.
Look, anyone can say they want to return. But there must be something behind that kind of statement. Otherwise, it’s just feel-good, public-relations speak from a player trying to make himself not look like a villain to a jilted Tigers fanbase that’s still mad at him for not getting an MRI before his arbitration hearing.
Ironically, Skubal’s statement has managed to anger Tigers and Dodgers fans at the same time. Tigers fans don’t buy it because, you know, they aren’t country rubes. And Dodgers fans aren’t happy that Skubal sounds like he’s pining for his old team before he’s even had time to order an “Animal Style” Double-Double at In-N-Out.
Or, as L.A. radio host Doug McKain noted, via the Chosun Daily: "This player hasn’t even properly removed the tag from his Dodgers uniform yet, and he’s already talking about his ex-girlfriend. … It’s like setting up a boombox in the front yard and waiting for Detroit to take you back. It’s really annoying.”
Coincidentally, on the PMT podcast, Skubal spoke at length about embracing the villain role during his first series with the Dodgers and called the constant booing at Chicago’s Wrigley Field “awesome.”
But that was a competitive animus. It wasn’t personal, like it is with the Dodgers and the Tigers fanbases, which Skubal noted while referencing a conversation with Kiké Hernandez.
“I was actually talking to Kiké last night and on the plane ride out there,” Skubal said, “and he’s like, ‘I’ve never seen a guy go from very loved in a place to the most hated player in baseball.’
“When he said that, I was like, ‘I guess, you know? I guess.’ ”
It’s not right or even fair to make Skubal the poster boy for everything that’s wrong with baseball’s money problems. But Tigers and Dodgers fans are justified in griping about the Skubal conundrum.
Even so, I believe Tigers fans will cheer Skubal if he takes the mound when the Dodgers visit Comerica Park at the end of August. Because beyond everything else, fans should remember they got to witness a good chunk of Skubal’s resume that’s trending strongly toward the Hall of Fame.
But coming back to Detroit is another story. And here’s one hint, courtesy of Skubal himself, of why it’s not likely to happen. When he was asked on the podcast about what sets the Dodgers organization apart, he spoke about the Dodgers’ two airplanes.
One plane is strictly for players and coaches. It takes off early, because it doesn’t have to wait to be loaded up with gear and support personnel, and it arrives about an hour before the second plane.
“Those,” Skubal said, “are just the little things that the Dodgers do right.”
So as soon as Tigers owner Christopher Ilitch buys that second team plane, maybe Skubal will truly consider returning to Detroit. But don’t bet on it.
Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on X @cmonarrez.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: I’ll bet my salary Tarik Skubal won't return to Detroit Tigers
