Tigers' president defends return in Skubal trade
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Scott Harris defended the trade return after sending Tarik Skubal to the Dodgers, telling reporters that waiting 24 or 48 more hours would not have yielded more value: "That's not how these negotiations work," and "That's garbage."
- The Tigers received outfield prospect Zhyir Hope (praised for power, speed and bat-to-ball skills), pitcher River Ryan (whom Harris expects to join the major league roster in September) and starter project Brady Smith with an elite changeup.
- Industry executives and scouts questioned the haul, noting the Dodgers have as many as four outfield prospects graded higher than Hope in their system, while the Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers — both deep in Skubal talks — possess some of baseball's deepest farm systems.
- Casey Mize, another starter nearing free agency, was sent to the San Diego Padres for 2024 first-round pick Kash Mayfield.
- Skubal went 31-10 with a 2.30 ERA and 469 strikeouts in 387⅓ innings from 2024 to 2025, leading all major league pitchers with 12.6 FanGraphs WAR, and will reach free agency in three months seeking the largest contract ever for a starting pitcher, per agent Scott Boras.
- Harris took personal responsibility for Detroit's slide — a 6-22 May after early injuries gave the Tigers a share of the worst record in baseball — and said he had wanted the team "to make a really compelling case that we shouldn't do this. We just didn't make that case."
- The Tigers held onto pending free agents Gleyber Torres and Kenley Jansen because, Harris said, the returns didn't justify losing their impact, and recently called up top prospect Max Clark to play center field while sitting 54-58 and 2½ games out of a playoff spot.
Why it matters: Trading a back-to-back Cy Young winner entering free agency is a franchise-shaping decision, and Harris's defense — combined with his choice to keep Torres and Jansen and promote top prospect Max Clark — signals the Tigers are trying to thread the needle between a controlled rebuild and competing in 2025 rather than fully tearing down around the Skubal return.
