Memo to Detroit Tigers: Keep Tarik Skubal
Belichick says he is staying put. Deal done between Disney and YouTube
Good morning and a pleasant Saturday to you all!
I am rooting for Tarik Skubal; rooting for him to stay with the Detroit Tigers. Skubal won his second straight AL Cy Young Award Wednesday night, putting him in elite company. He also becomes a free agent after 2026 and plays for a mid-market team. That has led to numerous stories, most of them clickbait.
The Red Sox are going to get Skubal. The Mets are going to acquire Skubal. Can the Yankees acquire Skubal? Will the Dodgers make a pitch for Skubal? The idea is the Tigers, especially with Scott Boras as Skubal’s agent, cannot afford to sign him to a long-term contract, so trade him now, while they can get something for him.
The Detroit Tigers owe it to their loyal fanbase to keep Skubal and try for a World Series run. Heck, they were within four outs of going to the ALCS against Toronto. If anything, they should be fortifying their team by going after free agent Alex Bregman, who played for Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, when he was managing Houston.
Maybe. Just maybe, the Tigers might sign Skubal to the contract he deserves. Everyone had Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leaving the Blue Jays, when he became a free agent, but in the end, the Blue Jays gave him the hefty contract he had earned, before he went on the open market.
I am sick of these clubs always building for the future, and the Tigers, after rebuilding for years, have finally turned the corner. Who knows what the baseball landscape is going to look like, after the 2026 season, with labor strife apparently on the horizon. For the Tigers, a legacy franchise, the franchise of Ty Cobb, Hank Greenberg, Al Kaline and Kirk Gibson, the future is now and the anchor is Skubal. Try to sign him longterm, but if not keep him anyway in his walk year. The World Series beckons.
Here are some other thoughts, while I wonder how the Patriots and Jets can play an exhibition game in the middle of the NFL season:
A deal has been reached between Disney and YouTube, meaning subscribers can watch their college football on ABC and ESPN today and Monday Night Football. Peace in our time.
Even with the Jets down by seven points midway in the second quarter, you knew they had no chance in the Pats, 27-14 win on TNF, because they have no offense. Justin Fields may not be the worse QB in the NFL, but he would give the worst QB a run for his money. As for the Pats, it was not one of their better-played games, but it did not have to be. They were playing the lowly Jets. Meanwhile, Jets coach Aaron Glenn says everything is on the table as far as changes to the Jets lineup, including benching Fields. Ya think?
Can we stop the Bill Belichick-to-New York Giants rumors. The head coach of the University of North Carolina football team repeated again Friday, he has no interest in leaving NC for any NFL head coach job, including the Giants. In fact, although praiseworthy of the Giants and Bill Parcells, he issued a vehement statement you can read here. He is staying put.
These clickbait stories are going to mention numerous candidates as the Giants next coach. I hope the person who lands the job is Mike Kafka, who starts his audition as Giants head coach on Sunday against the Packers.
To me, the most amazing thing about Shohei Ohtani is not that he has won four MVPs, two in each league, it is the fact he has won all four of them unanimously.
Aaron Judge becomes the first Yankee to win back-to-back AL MVPs since Roger Maris in 1960 and 1961.