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arlier in the now-completed season for the Detroit Tigers, they made the difficult choice to trade ace pitcher Tarik Skubal, who is the current reigning consecutive American League Cy Young Award winner.
Skubal was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are hoping to win a third straight World Series title. In return, the Tigers received a trio of prospects, including outfielder Zyhir Hope and right-handers River Ryan and Brady Smith.
For Skubal, there are naturally high expectations now that he’s with the Dodgers, considering their legitimate championship pursuit along with his status as one of the game’s top pitchers.
Former Detroit Tigers Pitcher Tarik Skubal Comes Clean On The Major Expectations He’s Facing
Speaking with Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times, Skubal acknowledged that the bar is now higher for him after winning the American League Cy Young Award and joining a team with serious championship ambitions.
Rather than shy away from those expectations, he said he has embraced them.
“I’ve grown to appreciate expectations from teammates, from fans, from organizations,” he said. “I’ve come to appreciate pressure. Early on in my career, there wasn’t much of that. It was more just kind of finding my footing, which I’m grateful for. It helped me learn a lot about myself.
“Having the expectation of being a team that is going to win the World Series, and me being a part of that, is something that I’ve come to really appreciate,” he continued. “I’ve come to appreciate all that stuff. As much as they can be looked at as negative things, or stress-inducing things, I’ve come to really appreciate those things, because I haven’t had that for my entire career.”
Tigers President Of Baseball Operations Scott Harris Defended The Skubal Trade
Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris defended the return the club received for Skubal
“We came into this very well prepared,” Harris said shortly after the trade was completed via ESPN. “We came into this with a firm idea of the type of deal that we wanted to ultimately land. And we had a deep understanding of what every organization had to offer.
“I think there is a unique dynamic with a player like Tarik Skubal. Markets at the deadline for the top players are just different than the rest of the market. So, I understand the intuition that, ‘Hey, you’re supposed to wait until the very last second on a deal and then pull a trigger at the very last second to maximize a return.’ That’s not how markets for the top players work.”
He also took on the responsibility for the Tigers being in a position where they felt they had no choice but to make the move.
“I wanted to give this team every opportunity to make a really compelling case that we shouldn’t do this,” he said. “We just didn’t make that case. It’s not on the players. It’s not on the coaches. It’s on me.”
Ex-Tiger Tigers Skubal Comes Clean On Major Expectations