Tigers and Tarik Skubal Head to Arbitration

Password: KUIPER

The Clubhouse is now in session.

I am SO excited about my Greatest Ever Survey, which I posted yesterday. I am excited about it, mostly because it will fuel a JoeBlogs exclusive series coming up later this month that I think (A) you will really like and (B) is probably not exactly what you’re expecting; (C) will revolve around what just might be the best acronym I’ve ever invented.

Also (D), I am commissioning some fun little artwork for it from one of my favorite artists!

The survey simply asks you to name the greatest player in a variety of sports. That’s it. One name. Thousands of you have already filled it out (thank you!), but if you haven’t, well, I’m going to keep it open for another week. It shouldn’t take you more than a couple of minutes.

I guess the question I have is: What are you doing, Tigers?

Thursday was the deadline for avoiding arbitration — and the Tigers and Tarik Skubal could not come to an agreement in time. That meant each side had to file an arbitration number.

Skubal’s representatives are looking for $32 million, which would set the arbitration record — Juan Soto’s $31 million arbitration win a couple of years ago.

And the Tigers countered with $19 million, which is less than they paid David Price in arbitration more than a decade ago.

The $13 million gap between the two is the largest in arbitration history.

And, to my eyes anyway, it’s essentially a public announcement by the Tigers that they have absolutely no intention of even trying to sign Skubal long-term. I mean, it’s never an insult to offer someone $19 million. But when you’re dealing with the best pitcher in baseball, runaway winner of the last two Cy Young Awards, the modern-day Koufax, by far the biggest reason the Tigers went from perpetually lousy to playoff team, well, yeah, $19 million is a statement.

I mean, you have already gotten TWO CY YOUNG SEASONS from the guy for a grand total of $12.8 million. He has been the bargain of the century. Fangraphs has estimated his open-market value over the last two years at a touch over $100 million.

Apparently, an 87% off sale is not enough for these Tigers.

So, yes, lowballing Tarik Skubal because you can is a statement — a statement that you do not particularly value the player, a statement that you do not intend to compete for him when he becomes a free agent at the end of the year, a statement that you do not care if he feels resentful toward the team.

I’ve never seriously thought the Tigers would deal Skubal this year.

Now, I’m thinking it might be inevitable.

Brilliant Readers have lots (and lots) and lots of thoughts about where baseball should go if, indeed, they add to expansion teams. Here are a few highlights.

Brilliant Reader Ken gives an involved multi-round playoff extravaganza with one division, 14 teams advancing, the top six advance directly to the playoffs, and the other eight play in two double elimination tournaments to give us the final two playoff contenders.

Joe: I love ideas like this, though I don’t know how workable they actually are.

Brilliant Reader Brock wants the NHL format — two leagues and two divisions in each league. The division winners get a playoff bye, and each league has four wildcard teams. One thing that he adds: He wants to go back to the idea of making the AL and NL completely separate — no interleague play. Under this idea, the leagues would never play each other except in the All-Star Game and the World Series.

Joe: In a time when Rob Manfred talks about eliminating the AL and NL — and, I have to admit, a lot of smart people all around the game seem to agree with him — I am much more in tune with Brock. I’d rather double down on the American and National Leagues. I’d be up for them being run independently, with each league potentially having different rules, different strategies, different philosophies. I think that would be MUCH better for the game. And I think it would make the postseason much more interesting.

Again, much smarter people than me (I?) are ready to eliminate the AL and NL and turn baseball into a geographical construct. So take this all with a grain of salt. But I think throwing away 126 years of history would be an absolute disaster.

Brilliant Reader Dave (and his friend Nick) have come up with names for each of the four divisions:

American League

National League

Joe: A lot to unpack here, which I will let you Brilliant Readers do … but I have spent a lot of time thinking about naming divisions after players, and while I love the idea in theory, I don’t love it in practice. This is a great example: All four players the divisions are named after are worthy greats.

But do Red Sox fans really want to play in the Gehrig division? Every team in the Brett division will think, “Wait, we had a player as good as George Brett.” That argument would never end — I mean, the Clemente Division is probably the most inarguable one, but since the Dodgers are in this proposed Clemente Division, they might wonder how it’s not named for Jackie or Campy.

Brilliant Reader Martin wants to go to the NFL setup of two leagues, four divisions in each league, and four teams in each division. He also thinks that if Nashville and Salt Lake City are the two expansion teams added, they should be called the Nashville Chords and the Utah Slopes.

Joe: One of the coolest things about the Nashville expansion effort is that it already has a name — the Nashville Stars, named after the old Nashville Stars Negro Leagues team.

Brilliant Reader Nato focuses his suggestions on creating a meaningful NHL-style Presidents’ Trophy for the team with the best record. Nato’s idea is that the record would come with a large cash prize and other meaningful incentives so that it would actually mean something to teams and players.

Joe: This is also Billy Beane’s idea — he and I have discussed this at some length. The hard part is making the “Best team record” meaningful to everyone. Cash helps, sure, but it has to be something that carries prestige.

One idea someone offered that I kind of love — even if it is entirely unworkable — is that the team with the best record AUTOMATICALLY goes to the World Series. Everybody else would play in a playoff, and then the survivor would play the regular season champion for the World Series crown. Yes, this is unworkable for the three dozen reasons that instantly popped into your head (you don’t have to send that email; I know the reasons), but I appreciate the idea of making the regular season not only matter but matter A LOT.

One other quick thought before we go to the poll: Multiple readers suggested that maybe there’s a way to expand the whole concept of the World Baseball Classic and involve professional teams from other leagues and create some sort of super tourney, not unlike the UEFA Champions League. I haven’t seen an especially compelling way to do this just yet … but I think the idea itself is brilliant.

In this week’s poll, I asked if you would prefer an NFL system (two leagues, eight divisions) or the NHL system (two leagues, four divisions).

The voting was basically split down the middle — 54% of you prefer the NHL, four-division structure.