Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- One of baseball's top starters delivered a dominant performance in what could be his final home start with his current team.
- The team's inability to hold the lead or capitalize in extra innings exposed critical weaknesses just days before a major trade deadline decision.
- The front office now faces a clear choice about whether to commit to a playoff push or begin rebuilding with valuable assets available.
Knowing that Wednesday's start against the Baltimore Orioles could be his last appearance at Comerica Park in a Detroit Tigers uniform, Tarik Skubal did his part. The lefty was his vintage self, leaving to raucous applause with two outs in the seventh inning and his team up 7-0. And then his teammates gave it all away: Kyle Finnegan and Drew Anderson coughed up that lead in the span of just two innings, and despite having the winning run in scoring position twice in extra innings, Detroit's offense failed to come up with the big hit in a 10-9 loss — one that dropped them four back in the loss column of the Cleveland Guardians in the race for the final AL Wild Card spot,
Brilliance from Skubal foiled by a threadbare bullpen and a wildly unreliable offense? If you were looking for a tidy metaphor for this depressing Tigers season, well, there you have it. And if Scott Harris were looking for a sign as to whether to trade his star lefty or make one more playoff push at Monday's trade deadline, he got that too.
Tigers squandering another Tarik Skubal gem tells Scott Harris all he needs to know ahead of MLB trade deadline
Technically speaking, there's still time for the Tigers to turn this around. After a day off Thursday, they'll head west for a three-game set against the lowly A's; sweep that, and you could be well within striking distance come decision time on Monday.
But let's be serious: Wednesday afternoon sure felt like the fat lady singing, this team's flaws all laid bare for Comerica Park to see one final time. The question isn't whether a four-game deficit is insurmountable over two months of baseball. The question is whether these Tigers are capable of leapfrogging five teams to do it — let alone making a real run once they get to October. And what about what Harris and fans saw in Skubal's last hurrah would make them believe the answer is yes?
Sure, Detroit has played better since that dreadful 6-22 mark in May, a span that saw Skubal go down with an elbow ailment. But even amid this recent push back toward relevance, it's never really felt like this was a serious contender. The bottom half of the lineup is a black hole. The rotation has gotten yeoman's work from Casey Mize, Troy Melton and Keider Montero, but that hardly makes up for the nothingburger the Tigers have gotten from Framber Valdez and Jack Flaherty. And the bullpen ... well, you saw what this bullpen is about on Wednesday.
There's no way Harris can honestly say he believes in this year's Tigers, and you can't blame him. (You can blame him for many other things, but not that.) And if a sober assessment tells you that this team is going nowhere serious, then it's time to get what you can for players who won't be here moving forward in hopes that it will help you build the next contention window sooner rather than later.
Who else should go if Detroit does decide to tear things down?
Really, that's not too outlandish. It hasn't been the best year on the farm, but they've still got controllable stars in Kevin McGonigle, Dillon Dingler and Riley Green plus outfielder Max Clark, infielder Bryce Rainer and catcher Josue Briceno in the pipeline. plus potential arms to build around in Melton, Reese Olson, Montero and Sawyer Gipson-Long. Plus, if they do pull the cord, no team is sitting on more valuable assets — and it's not just Skubal.
Mize is also set to hit free agency amid a career year, one that should fetch at least one potential top-100 prospect. Gleyber Torres and Kenley Jansen are vets on expiring deals as important positions who figure to catch the eye of contenders as well. Cash in on those three plus Skubal, reallocate the serious payroll you'll have coming off the books (Skubal, Torres, Jansen and Flaherty alone represent more than $80 million, and Javier Baez's deal finally runs out after 2027) and who knows how quickly Harris might be able to rebuild this thing. It's not what Tigers fans want to hear, but denying reality isn't helping anyone.
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