Detroit Tigers President of Baseball Operations Scott Harris defended the decision to trade two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal to the Los Angeles Dodgers ahead of the trade deadline, asserting that the organization maximized its return in the deal.
Harris pushed back against the notion that the Tigers should have waited to find a better offer for Skubal. "We came into this with a firm idea of the type of deal that we wanted to ultimately land. And we had a deep understanding of what every organization had to offer," Harris told reporters. He explained that the market for elite players like Skubal operates differently than for other trade commodities, stating, "Markets at the deadline for the top players are just different than the rest of the market." He added that there were no teams waiting to pivot to Skubal if they missed out on other targets, indicating a unique demand for the pitcher.
According to Harris, conversations with other organizations revealed that the market for a player of Skubal's caliber was established, allowing the Tigers to control the pace of negotiations. "We felt like we put ourselves in a position on Saturday night where it was abundantly clear what every organization was going to be able to do, and we laid down all the offers in front of us and we chose one," he said. "I’m very confident that we absolutely maximized the return we could get for Tarik Skubal."
The Tigers received outfield prospect Zyhir Hope and right-handed pitching prospects River Ryan and Brady Smith in the trade. Harris described the interest in Skubal as a "bidding war" among several teams that pursued the pitcher aggressively before Detroit's front office settled on the Dodgers' offer as the best package.
Despite trading Skubal, Harris expressed confidence in the Tigers' ability to remain competitive. The team was 2 ½ games back of an American League wild-card spot at the time of the trade, which also included pitcher Casey Mize being sent to the Padres.
