Detroit Tigers Need to Change One Bad Habit to Compete Before Ace Leaves
The Detroit Tigers were rumored to be exploring trades that involved their ace, but ultimately decided to keep him around. But how much longer do the have to compete until he leaves?
As Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report looked around the league and assigned each team one word to describe their status after the deadline, he came up with the interesting 'singular' tag for the Tigers.
"Short of getting the aforementioned Holliday in return, it made no sense for [Detroit] to seriously consider trading ace Tarik Skubal. Not only do the Tigers have Skubal for two more seasons before he can become a free agent, but the 27-year-old's pursuit of the AL Cy Young Award is really the only reason to watch [Detroit] the rest of this season," said Kelly. "Maybe if he wins the Tigers will celebrate by spending in free agency and surrounding him with a competitive team."
Not only did he state that Skubal was the only reason to watch Detroit for the rest of the year, the insinuation is that they only have one path forward to compete with him before the end of his contract: spend money.
The Tigers currently sit at the No. 26 spot in MLB's salary rankings. The only teams behind them are not front offices that anyone wants to be compared to. They're spending just $3 million more than the Miami Marlins and $12 million more than the Pittsburgh Pirates.
There are 10 teams that spend at least twice as much. While the front office doesn't need to write checks the size that the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees do, a little more spending could put them over the edge as contenders.
Currently on the roster, the biggest free agent acquisition was Kenta Maeda.
Maeda signed a two-year, $24 million contract this past offseason. That deal has already looked like a huge mistake, though, as the veteran has imploded to a 6.72 ERA across 76.1 innings this year.
After the 36-year-old, biggest free agent deal belongs to reliever Shelby Miller at just $3.25 million.
Jack Flaherty was the most expensive free agent addition at $14 million, but the team recently traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers after it became clear that they weren't going to compete this year.
With the upcoming free agency classes, opening up the pocketbooks for real contracts could lead to better success or else they might be forced to trade Skubal before he bolts to a different situation in free agency.
DYLAN SANDERS