Costa and Jansen contemplate on why the Tigers haven't signed Tarik Skubal and discuss potential contract numbers.
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00:00Tigers had a day, nine runs on offense, Tarek Skubel, a gem of a start, seven innings, shutout baseball, nine strikeouts, no walks.
00:09He's put together two shutout performances back to back now, and he's, John, he's settled in for anybody that had concerns.
00:16Yeah, obviously starting off 0-1-2, not what you would think the returning Cy Young Award winner would start the season off with.
00:24And it wasn't that he pitched bad, it was just a couple of mistakes, and there were some mistakes in the field.
00:28So it wasn't all on him, it was kind of a compounding of errors.
00:34But the last two games, he has taken away pretty much any opportunity for error, because he has taken care of things before they even get base runners.
00:45He was so good through five innings, and he was good through his entire time.
00:49He was perfect, perfect going to the fifth, and the one jam he got into in the sixth, 100 miles an hour, perfect pitch, good luck, goodbye, see ya, good night.
00:58He was phenomenal.
01:00Back-to-back starts, it's now 13 shutout innings in a row, 15 Ks, zero walks, he's given up less than a base runner an inning.
01:09Yeah, the dude's legit.
01:11And the number one comment I got last night was, when are we paying him?
01:16And I hate that this is what it's turning into, but everybody's thinking it.
01:22See, to me, this is how it works.
01:24They're winning.
01:25They're good.
01:27They're going to have him through this season.
01:29And then at the end of the year, he'll have one year left.
01:32And if you can't work out an extension, you get something for him.
01:36I don't want it to come to that.
01:38I don't want this conversation to hang over the heads of this season, because I think this team could be pretty good and he can lead the way.
01:44But, John, you hear it.
01:46I hear it.
01:47When are they going to pay this guy?
01:48Is he going to be here long term?
01:50So, I don't know that anybody really knows what the answer to that is.
01:55And I think there are some people with strong opinions on both sides where, hey, it's ride him as long as you can have him.
02:03They don't want to pay him because of the arm events.
02:07And they're willing to trade him this next coming offseason.
02:10And then there's others that think he is the next Justin Verlander.
02:14And not only is he going to pitch like Verlander in this moment, maybe not the innings, because that's just not baseball anymore.
02:21But they also believe that he's going to have the longevity.
02:25And some of it is because he's already had his arm event.
02:27And he has been managed to lower the innings, to lower the stress on his arm throughout the course of every season that he is performing.
02:37So, they want to extend him.
02:39Verlander is the last of a dying breed, the workhorse starter.
02:42We don't see that anymore.
02:44But Scooble's season last year rivals peak Verlander in Detroit.
02:48His ERA was lower.
02:49His strikeouts right there at the top.
02:52Just not the innings.
02:54Just not working eight, nine innings.
02:55And the other difference would be that playoff elimination game where Verlander was nails and Scooble gave up that home run to Lane Thomas.
03:02But Scooble is the modern version of Justin Verlander.
03:05As much as someone can be a JV in today's game, he's filthy.
03:08He's dominant.
03:09He's your ace.
03:09He's your bulldog.
03:10He lets out the primal scream after he gets the big time strikeout to end the inning.
03:14He's your guy.
03:16And, John, I'm of the opinion you pay good baseball players.
03:19You want to run your team like a real big league organization?
03:21You pay your baseball players.
03:23That price tag, though, may be too rich for their blood.
03:27Scott Boris is the agent.
03:28He's not going to take a discount.
03:30If this thing walks up to free agency, it creates a whole bunch of problems because we know what the Dodgers are willing to pay.
03:36The Yankees and Mets are willing to outbid you.
03:39It creates a situation that I'm just trying to deny and live in denial because it's not a situation we have to worry about right now.
03:45But it is on everybody's mind.
03:47It's like your taxes.
03:47You just want to put it off as long as possible.
03:49And I get it.
03:50You're going to get less for him if you trade him in a year from now.
03:52But what's the alternative?
03:53Dump him now?
03:54You're not going to do that.
03:55No, this is an off-season decision.
03:58This is a team that, as we're learning, maybe is a little bit better than we thought.
04:03They're performing better than we anticipated.
04:05And so we don't have to have the conversations of what do you do with Tarek Skubal at the trade deadline.
04:13Because last year they were sellers and it was a conversation that we were forced to have.
04:16Oh, yeah.
04:16Were we going to get a haul from Baltimore?
04:19Right.
04:20And ended up that, obviously, they kept him.
04:22He won the Cy Young year and he is performing as such again this year.
04:27It's an off-season conversation as to what they're going to do.
04:30It's poop or get off the pot.
04:32And because if you go into next year, not having extended him and he's still on the roster,
04:38you run the risk of trying to match anything that the Yankees, the Dodgers, the Mets, the Red Sox want to put out there.
04:47You could lose him for nothing.
04:49But really, it's wild to me that that's the fixation.
04:54If anything, the fact that the team is so good, it delays it.
04:58Right?
04:59Because what is it?
04:59Eight and two in the last ten now.
05:02They're setting up to win five straight series here if they can win one of the next two games.
05:07Flaherty on the mound.
05:08Good teams aren't trading away their ace pitcher ahead of the playoffs.
05:11And this team is the frontrunner in the division right now.
05:13So really, I would think this conversation gets pushed to the offseason, yet it's on everybody's mind every time he deals.
05:20And I wonder if it's possible to set that aside and understand you're going to give it your best shot with Scooble this season.
05:27But in doing so, you better be adding at the trade deadline.
05:29Not to get ahead of ourselves in that way, John.
05:31But if you're not trading him away, it's you saying we think we have a real shot at this.
05:35Yeah, and we better win now.
05:36You better add someone to make sure that you don't waste the season.
05:41So do you guys think we're heading for a confrontational almost type thing at the winter meetings in December?
05:49Yeah, so next December.
05:51So the likelihood of him being dealt at the deadline is so low.
05:55You know, this team would maybe have to tank, but he's pitching like a Cy Young winner.
05:58Who knows?
06:00I just don't think that's happening.
06:01But the reason I say that is because no contract is happening during the season.
06:07That would really surprise us all.
06:10So if you don't get it done by the winter meetings, don't you have to trade him?
06:13Yes, but it's a conversation I don't want to have right now.
06:16Right.
06:16But everybody's bringing up paying him.
06:18Well, paying him isn't reasonable right now.
06:20It really isn't.
06:21But people want to know that he's going to be here for the long haul.
06:25And there's no way you're getting that certainty right now.
06:26No, and it's really going to come down to are they going to set the market while they still have a year of team control?
06:35Or, and what is it that Scooble wants?
06:39Does he like being here with Chris Fetter as his pitching coach and this organization seemingly on the rise?
06:49And instead of going for, let's just call it $45 million a year for eight years, nine years.
06:56Is he willing to go $42 million?
07:00Because he doesn't want to get it.
07:03And say he wins another Cy Young or is in the finalists for the Cy Young.
07:09And is he willing to go another year, possibly risking injury, and for that $3 or $4 million?
07:18I don't know the answer to that question.
07:21It's also possible that the Tigers have certain thresholds they're comfortable with.
07:25With Bregman, they didn't want to go over $200 million.
07:27With Scooble, I'm sure they would.
07:29But there's got to be a number where they say, no, that's not a risk we're willing to take for a pitcher into his late 30s with a violent delivery and already has the arm event in his background.
07:38Maybe it's behind him, or maybe he's going to have to have another one.
07:41And if they have a number in mind where they're not willing to go over and they say, hey, Job's our future ace.
07:48We've resuscitated a career of Flaherty and potentially Mize here.
07:55If he doesn't want to take our deal, we're not going to make a bad deal, which is what they did this last offseason.
08:00They said, we're not going to make a bad deal.
08:01We're not going to overpay for Alex Bregman.
08:03Right or wrong, that may be their thought here is, we like Scooble, we're not going to do something stupid and pay a premium right now.
08:11And if I'm Boris, I'm only signing early for a premium because I know the other teams are going to be lining up to pay him when his contract is up.
08:18John, I don't think we live in a world where the things that you brought up about the team rising up and Chris Fetter and all these other things, that world exists for a Scott Boris client.
08:29I think Tarek Scooble would have to change agents.
08:31I think Scott Boris would not do that deal because of his reputation.
08:36Okay, well, again, I would emphasize this, and I don't know the relationship between Scooble and Boris.
08:42I don't know what he has told Scott Boris.
08:44Let's always remember that agents work for the player.
08:48And now, if he is going to be that personality that says, I don't want to risk injury next year,
08:54and I'm willing to set myself up with a $250 million contract versus a $275 million contract,
09:04or, you know, I mean, like, what is his threshold?
09:09Right, but you hire Boris for a reason.
09:12Like, he's the only guy in the game, the only agent in the game that just, he's going to do business one way.
09:18I'll look at it this way.
09:19Look, Tarek Scooble, if he wins another Cy Young, who's the last person to win back-to-back Cy Youngs?
09:24That comes with tremendous value.
09:26And how did Scherzer's time end in Detroit?
09:28He got a record deal at the time.
09:30And not here.
09:31And again, that was Dave Dombrowski, not Scott Harris.
09:34Right.
09:34That was a different regime.
09:36But it's on people's minds when he pitches this well.
09:39I'm not saying that Tarek Scooble won't take that risk.
09:43Like, I'm just saying that that needs to be a part of the conversation, because he knows, nobody knows him better than he knows himself.
09:52And how is his arm feeling?
09:54Does he feel like there's a risk of having another arm event?
09:58I mean, look, you never know what's going to happen.
10:00If they come out and say, and I'm going to blow you away here, but six years, $50 million a year, $300 million.
10:06So the Tigers don't want the long-term commitment, but they're making him the first $50 million pitcher in baseball.
10:11I don't know how Scott Boris says no to that.
10:13So there are ways to get there.
10:16Sure.
10:16And I think it's the risk-reward of it all.
10:19Tickettexter points out every long-term pitcher that signs a deal like this and resets the market, it backfires because of injury.
10:25The deal you're going to look at right now is Garrett Cole.
10:28He signed that nine-year, $300-and-some-odd-million-dollar contract.
10:35He's not pitching this season because of an arm event.
10:38And it will set him back some next year, potentially, because of this arm event.
10:43If the Tigers don't want to pay him, not because they don't like him, the player, but because of the market and the position, then it is imperative that they win as much as they can this season with him.
10:53Because they are in the driver's seat in the AL Central.
10:56And they're currently doing that.
10:57First place.
10:582-4-8-5-3-9-97-97.
11:00Another win last night.
11:01Flaherty on the bump later today.
11:03Coming up next, fair or foul?
11:05Pistons playoff tickets.
11:07It's a headline everywhere in the city.
11:08It's 97.1.