The Detroit Tigers finally bit the bullet and moved Tarik Skubal for a pretty good prospect package late on Saturday night. Only time will tell how this turns out, but they did get a nice mix of talented young players and a high risk, high reward acquisition in River Ryan. With the August 3rd, 5:00 p.m. ET trade deadline now looming, will the Tigers make more trades? Or, just 2.5 games outside of a wild card spot, will they be satisfied to keep the rest of the team together and continue to try and reach
the playoffs without Skubal?
At this point, there’s really not much point selling off talent in my view. If someone wants to pay a hefty price for Casey Mize, Gleyber Torres, or Jack Flaherty, fine, make the move. However, the Tigers are still in position to make a run at this thing, and with a bit of luck they’ll add Jackson Jobe and River Ryan to the pitching staff over the next few weeks. The rotation has been weakened, but the bullpen remains the key component standing between the Tigers and success. It’s hard to believe in this team as any kind of real contender unless that’s sorted out, but there’s also no reason to dump Mize, Flaherty, or Gleyber Torres just to save money.
With Max Clark and Eduardo Valencia off to a good start, this lineup has few truly weak points left in it. The two rookies will cool off and have the natural struggles of any hitter new to the minor leagues, but even so they’re still upgrades over some of the terrible production the Tigers have largely received from the bottom of their lineup. Those two players, along with the addition of Gleyber Torres and now Javy Báez off the injured list gives them better versatility and more options to combat left-handed pitching, while getting the Tigers’ worst hitters out of the lineup.
They also have the option of calling up a red hot Max Anderson from Triple-A Toledo, and that doesn’t have to come at the cost of trading Torres either. Keeping Torres around makes a lot of sense, as that professional at-bat could come in very handy in the postseason. James Outman is pretty much irrelevant with Max Clark now in center field, and the Tigers could release him, call up Anderson, and use a mix of he and Torres at second base, with both of them getting shots at the designated hitter spot here and there or just coming off the bench. It’s probably best to make sure Torres has a fair amount of rest days anyway to try and insure that the oblique injury doesn’t flare up again.
There’s been some speculation that the Tigers could move a reliever, but other than dealing a lefty like Tyler Holton or Enmanuel de Jesus for a significant overpay, there really isn’t an obvious trade to make. It’s just difficult to believe that anyone is going to give up anything for Kenley Jansen, Kyle Finnegan, or Drew Anderson at this point. If someone wants to get silly with it and actually give the Tigers something for one of them? Wonderful.
Scott Harris and Jeff Greenberg are in a pretty advantageous position regarding further trade talks. They don’t really have to trade any of these players. They still have a realistic shot at squeaking into the postseason, and they’ve already reloaded the system with a lot of what it needed in the Skubal trade. So, they can simply force teams to make it worth their while, or go on as they are and hopefully run down a wild card spot even without Tarik Skubal. Despite the potential addition of Jobe and Ryan, it would still be a good idea to go try and add a quality right-handed reliever as well, it’s just that the competition is likely to be pretty fierce over the next 20 hours.
The one thing that would change my mind is if the Tigers could land a solid starting pitching prospect already in the upper minors. Teams aren’t going to deal a young major league starter for Mize or Torres, but if the Tigers can get a Double-A or Triple-A level prospect they like to fill out depth for the future and potentially even to pitch down the stretch, that should certainly be considered seriously. The only player that seems likely to draw that level of interest is Mize. Flaherty is injured and presumably not an option for anyone. Torres might have some suitors but isn’t going to command a whole lot.
There are plenty of teams hunting a good rental starting pitcher, and Mize is one of the best available. The Rays have been looking, and appear to have lost Shane McClanahan to an injury this afternoon, but the Braves, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Yankees, and possibly the Padres are all in need as well. The question is whether they’ll make it worthwhile for the Tigers to flip Mize or not. With Skubal traded, the Tigers are now comfortably under the luxury tax threshold, and can offer Mize a qualifying offer at season’s end. Keeping him for a reasonable one-year price would be fine if he accepts, but should he decline and sign elsewhere for a deal worth $50 million or more, the Tigers would get a compensation pick after the regular first round of the 2027 draft. That’s far from a certainty, particularly with Mize’s tendency to injury, but such a pick would probably be worth at least as much as teams are going to want to offer for his services.
So, with Skubal traded, the situation is much clearer and simpler now. Rival presidents and GMs are going to have to come calling and be willing to overpay significantly for the Tigers likeliest remaining trade chips. If a deal comes through, the Tigers are in the driver’s seat here and should be expected to do well in any such trade. We can hope that Harris and Greenberg can come up with a relief acquisition of their own to help this bullpen out, but their track record says they aren’t going to land anyone impactful, and with Ryan and Jobe on their way back, there may be little point to a minor relief acquisition anyway. Still, any upgrade in the pen would be appreciated.
