Tarik Skubal Hoping for Tigers Reunion Days After Trade to Dodgers Doesn’t Sit Well With Fans: “Trying to Save Face Now”

Tarik Skubal was traded from the Detroit Tigers to the Los Angeles Dodgers last Saturday in exchange for 3 prospects.

Tarik Skubal Hoping for Tigers Reunion Days After Trade to Dodgers Doesn’t Sit Well With Fans: “Trying to Save Face Now”

Tarik Skubal (Image via X/@SleeperDodgers)

Tarik Skubal still has the Detroit Tigers in his mind. A few days after being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the 29-year-old stated that he hoped his former team would be involved in negotiations in the offseason when he becomes a free agent.

The 2-time American League Cy Young Award winner was in the final year of his deal. After the Tigers and Skubal failed to reach an agreement on a contract extension, talks of a trade heated up.

Last Saturday, the Dodgers landed him. The reigning World Series champions gave up Zyhir Hope, River Ryan and Brady Smith to bring the pitcher to Los Angeles.

While the Dodgers are currently on a losing run, his addition does give them a boost for a historic 3-peat of the World Series title. Once the season is done, Skubal will enter free agency and will be available to every team.

The southpaw has kept the door open for his former team. In a clip shared by Pardon My Take, the pitcher opened up about the emotional state he was in when he found out about his trade. He then hoped that the Tigers would be one of the teams that would be involved in talks with him in the offseason in November.

I would love to play my whole career in Detroit. I would love to. And hopefully those negotiations can pick back up in November, once the playoffs are done. We’ll see where that goes. Hopefully, they’re involved in everything. I would love to return.

Tarik Skubal said

Skubal is expected to land a deal around $400 million in free agency. At the moment, the largest free agent contract for a pitcher belongs to Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Dodgers acquired him in December 2023 on a 12-year, $325 million deal.

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Social media reacts to Tarik Skubal’s comments

Tarik Skubal’s trade move to the Los Angeles Dodgers caused a massive uproar on social media. Just a few days after his blockbuster trade, the pitcher has found himself under backlash once again for saying that he would love to return to the Detroit Tigers.

Tarik Skubal
Tarik Skubal (Image via X/@MLB)

Fans on X slammed Skubal for his recent comments. Some Dodgers fans also questioned his trade move. Meanwhile, one user wrote that he was “trying to save face now” and bashed him.

Check out that and some reactions from X below:

The Tigers and the Dodgers have been in this situation before. In 2024, the Tigers traded pitcher Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers. The pitcher went 6-2 in 10 regular-season starts with the NL West side.

After winning the World Series with them, Flaherty returned to the Tigers by signing a 2-year, $35 million deal with them during the offseason. Bringing back Skubal would likely require them to pay 10-times more than they did for Flaherty.

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Dodgers are winless since trading for Tarik Skubal

The Los Angeles Dodgers added a major piece to their starting rotation by landing Tarik Skubal through a trade deal. However, since his arrival, the team is winless.

Tarik Skubal
Tarik Skubal (Image via X/@SleeperDodgers)

The Dodgers were 69-40 for the season before their series against the Boston Red Sox last week. After losing on Friday and Saturday, they got their hands on Skubal.

The Red Sox then went on to sweep them. The Dave Roberts-led side then lost on Monday against the Chicago Cubs. With Skubal starting on Tuesday, the team was hoping to end their losing streak.

That did not happen as Skubal gave up 2 runs. Despite picking up 6 strikeouts and giving up just 4 hits in 6 innings, he ended up as the losing pitcher as the Dodgers went down 5-1.

They lost on Wednesday and Friday as well and are 0-5 since they traded Skubal. This 7-game losing run has seen their record go from 69-40 to 69-47. So the team is not as invincible as some claim they are.

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