Tigers are playing a very dangerous game with Tarik Skubal injury scare

The Detroit Tigers blew another game on Wednesday, but you can't blame fans for feeling like they were able to walk out of Atlanta with a win knowing that Tarik Skubal had apparently survived a nerve-racking injury scare. The southpaw was seen shaking his left arm after throwing a pitch in his seventh and final inning against the Braves, and was concerned enough to call catcher Dillon Dingler to the mound.

He not only remained in the game but went on to strike out the side, putting a capper on yet another quality start. So, at least for now, the Tigers are out of the woods. But while Skubal might be fine moving forward, the incident proves that Detroit is taking a serious risk with the two-time Cy Young winner.

Carrying Tarik Skubal into the season was always a risk

Against seemingly all odds, the Tigers held onto Skubal in the offseason even though he was set to enter his final year of club control. Holding onto him made sense given the roster Detroit had around its best player, especially after the team added Framber Valdez in free agency. But seeing it through with a superstar you're unlikely to re-sign in free agency is always risky.

Assuming Skubal has another Skubal-esque year — and, crucially, ends it healthy — he's going to fetch a deal north of $300 million this winter, and maybe even north of $400 million. Are the Tigers, a team that's never come close to extending him in the past and was way off in arbitration negotiations, really going to fork out that kind of money on one player? I'll believe it when I see it.

If they keep him through the season, the Tigers will almost certainly lose him in free agency for nothing more than a draft pick, when they could have traded him for a haul at any time. If they win the World Series, that decision will obviously be worthwhile. Anything short of that, though, makes the decision to keep him very questionable when they could have landed an absurd haul.

Tarik Skubal injury scare emphasizes major risk Tigers are taking

Keeping Skubal is risky to begin with, knowing that he's likely going to leave for nothing more than a draft pick, and doing so is even riskier when thinking about the fact that his season could go awry at any moment. I mean, he was through six dominant innings before he started shaking his arm in the seventh after throwing an innocent-looking 96-mph sinker.

What if Skubal were to have suffered a major injury on this pitch? There's a chance his season and his Tigers career would be over right there. Heck, there's a chance the Tigers' season would've been over right there. Any chance Detroit has of winning the World Series this season rests on Skubal's left arm.

Anybody can get hurt at any moment, and that's especially true for pitchers. It's also not as if Skubal doesn't have some red flags when it comes to injury concerns: He's had his share of arm injuries, and he's also thrown over 200 innings when combining the regular season and postseason in each of the last two seasons. Detroit is dancing on a knife's edge here; if Skubal gets hurt, the Tigers won't be able to trade him and won't be able to win without him.

Is the risk/reward worth it for the Tigers to keep Skubal? The risks are evident; he can suffer an injury at any moment, and even if he's able to stay healthy, anything short of a World Series win would be a failure knowing he'll be gone this offseason. The reward is less clear. The odds are stacked against Detroit when it comes to beating the field in October.

The Tigers just saw the Minnesota Twins, a division rival, opt to keep Pablo Lopez this offseason despite trade rumors, only to watch him undergo Tommy John surgery before Opening Day. I'm not wishing injury on Skubal, and I know it's unlikely that the Tigers will back out of keeping him at this point, but that could prove to be a costly mistake.

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