Mitch Albom: Losing Tarik Skubal is rough, but the process was worse

In the end, he left the way we all knew he would, to play with the rich kids, to star in the land of movie stars. Didn’t matter that he was drafted by the Detroit Tigers, developed by the Tigers or elevated to greatness with the Tigers.

Once Tarik Skubal became the best pitcher in baseball, he was no longer ours. The gods of money, greedy agents and big markets took over, pushing mere mortals in smaller markets aside.

Skubal became the pretty girl you knew was going to leave you for the football star, the startup genius you knew was going to get lured away by Google. Now he’s the object of that Drifters song, “There Goes My Baby,” moving on down the line.

There goes our baby. A little before midnight on the first day of August, Scott Harris, the Tigers’ president of baseball operatons, traded Skubal to the Los Angeles Dodgers for three prospects: two pitchers and an outfielder, none of whom rank higher than fifth in LA’s farm system.

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If anyone is supposed to start a sentence today with “I’m so excited, just look at what the Tigers got …” we’re waiting to hear it. Prospects, no matter what scouts tell you, are just prospects, and none of these new ones – outfielder Zyhir Hope, right-handed pitcher River Ryan or right-handed pitcher Brady Smith – are even in the top 20 in MLB.

Skubal, 29, is the best in the business.

But he’s somebody’s else’s best this morning. And you know what? We should be glad it’s over. Because if you aren’t sick of this entire escapade by now, your tolerance level is up there with Job.

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Even before this season started, all we heard was how the Tigers “have to trade Skubal” because they’d never be able to afford him in free agency after this year.

Then in April, once they won six straight at home, people whispered how they might be a serious playoff team, and maybe they should keep him and go for it all.

Then May came, the Tigers sank, and we were back to “no choice but to trade him.”

Then June came and the Tigers surged, and we were back to “maybe we should roll the dice.”

Then July came and they sunk again, and we ping-ponged back to the “must deal him” square.

Enough. This isn’t sports. It’s the stock market. The Dodgers, who have the most money, the best roster and the last two World Series in their pocket, now get Skubal, the back-to-back American League Cy Young winner and the finest pitcher the Tigers have had since Justin Verlander, whom, you recall, was also traded for a dubious package of prospects who didn’t pan out as stars.

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Skubal’s potential departure hung over every start this season, and more recently hung over every Tigers outing: Did they win a couple in a row? Maybe we keep Skubal. Did they lose a couple? We can’t keep Skubal.

No wonder A.J. Hinch told the media last month the Tigers having been “playing Game 7 every night.” They were on daily probation. One wrong move and the big guy gets shipped.

Apparently, they made enough wrong moves. The Tigers enter Sunday at five games below .500, and are only mathematically still in the AL Central and wild-card races because the AL and the Central are awash in mediocrity.

It’s worth noting that the Tigers were only 9-7 in games that Skubal started this year.  But they were 44-51 in the games other pitchers started. So if it feels like Detroit just threw the rest of this season on the train tracks, you understand why.

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Now, no doubt, fans will jump all over Harris and owner Christopher Ilitch – especially the fans who feel this was a paltry return. There was a soundbite last week of former New York Mets GM Steve Phillips suggesting the Tigers could get a four-player package from the Milwaukee Brewers that included the No. 1 prospect in baseball, Jesús Made. We have no idea if that was ever real, but since when does that stop fans from arguing?

Still, before you put this all on ownership, let’s point a finger at Skubal himself and agent Scott Boras. No one held a gun to Skubal’s head to hire Boras. He did it because Boras gets you the most money.

And despite the fact that Skubal has told the media, “I love Detroit” and “I want to be a Tiger for a very long time”, he never told Boras to make a deal to stay here no matter what. He could have. He could have taken a new deal closer to $300 million than $400 million and played out his career in the town he supposedly “loved.”

Instead, Skubal is playing this out the way they all play it out: Let’s pit teams against each other and see how rich we can get.

No complaints. That’s baseball. Or rather, free-market economics. But we don’t have to attach our hearts to it. Just see if for what it is. A business. Hey, in a world where LeBron James, arguably the NBA’s best-ever player, just made his fifth franchise move, we can’t be surprised at anything.

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Still, if this doesn’t send the message to baseball that they need to shut down until some financial equity can be constructed, I don’t know what will. How many more players can the Dodgers scoop up? Their TV money is insane compared to MLB’s other markets. Their spending is unbridled. Without a salary cap, rooting in baseball has become an exercise in hoping Dodgers get injured, rather than cheering on your home team, which clearly can’t keep pace.

The Tigers, who are not the Dodgers, may not be done dealing. With Skubal gone, 2025 All-Stars Casey Mize and Gleyber Torres could also go before Monday’s trade deadline. It’s called retooling, if not rebuilding. And you have to believe the current Tigers endured a huge gut punch seeing their best pitcher dealt away. It’s hard to imagine they will feel the same about this season now.

We shouldn’t either. What stinks is that Detroit is once again made to feel lesser-than, that we don’t rate amongst towns where the best players in their sport want to play and stay. We are told: “Be glad that the Tigers didn’t have to tie up $400 million on a soon-to-be 30 year-old pitcher”, but that only makes you glad if no other team is willing to do it. Once the Dodgers or Yankees or a handful of other teams commit to playing in these ultra-rich sandboxes, what choice do the lesser markets have besides envy and glum acceptance?

Not much. Skubal leaves the Tigers with incredible numbers – a 61-42 record, just over 1,000 strikeouts and an ERA at 2.80 or lower the last four seasons – and some memorable postseason heroics, including a 14-strikeout game against Cleveland in last season’s AL wild-card series.

Still, he will forever be recalled as the rabbit who ran ahead of the field, better at his job than other Tigers were at theirs, and gone before the rest could get up to snuff. The Tigers weren’t good enough, the franchise wasn’t rich enough and the player himself wasn’t devoted enough to staying here for less. Or at least that’s what the Tigers believed.

There goes our baby. We are the high schoolers watching our former best friend take a seat at the cool kids’ table, or the bar band that sees its lead singer signed away by a man from the record company. It’s going to feel truly weird watching Tarik Skubal, raised as a Tiger, pitching for the Dodgers in a few days. We can only hope it’s a West Coast game and we sleep through it.

To paraphrase Billy Joel, say hello to Hollywood, say goodbye our baby. Not to be crude, but this whole ugly process was exhausting, and I’d rather watch Little Leaguers than endure it again.

Contact Mitch Albom: malbom@freepress.com. Check out the latest updates on his charities, books and events at MitchAlbom.com. Follow @mitchalbom on x.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mitch Albom: Losing Tarik Skubal is rough, but the process was worse