Scott Harris strongly rejected the idea that the Detroit Tigers failed to generate enough competition before trading Tarik Skubal to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Speaking after the deadline, Detroit’s president of baseball operations said the Tigers received multiple offers, pushed teams beyond their initial proposals and carefully weighed every available package.
According to Brad Galli, Harris called criticism that there was no bidding war “garbage.”
“That’s garbage,” Harris said.
Harris added that the Tigers could hear “audible pain” from interested teams as they continued adding to their offers.
He believes Detroit received each club’s best proposal, then convinced those teams to stretch even further.
Tigers Weighed Multiple Skubal Offers
Harris said the front office considered several possibilities before settling on the Dodgers’ package of Zyhir Hope, River Ryan and Brady Smith.
The decision was not easy.
According to Jennifer Hammond, Harris described the choice as “Really tough.”
He also indicated the decision was not unanimous inside the organization.
That detail offers a glimpse into how divided the Tigers’ front office may have been over moving a two-time Cy Young winner while Detroit remained within reach of a Wild Card spot.
Harris Defends Timing of the Trade
Harris also pushed back against the idea that Detroit should have waited until the final hours of the deadline before trading Skubal.
“The market was the market,” Harris said.
He argued that a player of Skubal’s caliber generated clear, serious offers and that waiting longer would not necessarily have forced teams to change what they were willing to surrender.
Detroit believed it had already reached the point where clubs had made their strongest bids.
Once the Dodgers agreed to include Hope, the Tigers chose Los Angeles’ offer.
Bottom Line
Scott Harris is not accepting the argument that Detroit settled for the first reasonable Skubal package.
He said the Tigers had multiple offers, forced teams to improve them and endured a difficult internal debate before choosing the Dodgers.
Fans can still question whether Detroit received enough.
Harris’ position is clear: the Tigers tested the market, extracted the strongest offers available and made the deal they believed gave the organization its best return.
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