This is very exciting. It is a big sigh of relief to see the Tigers spending money, but I need to see how things play out over the next few weeks before I can really determine whether this is Detroit's definition of going all in. Obviously, Tarik Skubal had his arbitration hearing today. We will know more about that tomorrow. If Skubal were to win his arbitration hearing, I guess there’s a possibility that he could be traded. The signing of Framber Valdez means one of two things. Either it’s the tigers totally loading up on their pitching department, knowing they have one year left of Skubal, or it’s Detroit signing Valdez, knowing that Skubal is going to be traded before opening day.
This is the biggest problem with instantaneous reactions. Sometimes we end up looking silly in hindsight. On paper, this looks great. Not only do you load up on your pitching for 2026, but you can also start to think about life beyond Skubal. I’ve been saying it for two years, and I know that people can continue to be in denial about it, but Tarik Skubal isn’t going to be here much longer; at most, he’ll be here for one more year. But as many people have pointed out and hoped for, we would want Detroit to try to get the most out of that one year, not in a way that would completely sacrifice their future, but in a way that would maximize what they have in the present.
Look, I’m not a guy who can predict the future. I can only go off of what I know right now, and right now the Tigers have positioned themselves to have one of the best and deepest pitching staffs in all of baseball. This is not just a starting rotation that runs four or five deep. There’s inevitably going to be injuries. You don’t root for things like that, but this is how things work in baseball. The fact that you have guys like Troy Melton, who have pitched some legitimate innings in the major leagues, that are likely going to start the season down in AAA means that this organization finally has a depth within their system that they haven’t really had in my lifetime. Even if you want to ignore all of that and focus on Valdez, Detroit still pulled in one of the 10 to 15 best pitchers in baseball without having to pay him until he’s 40.