4 Tigers who are making Scott Harris 2026 trade deadline decisions harder by the day

With just under a month to go until the trade deadline, the Tigers are in "move it or lose it" mode. Either get hot right now and get back into the postseason picture, or run the risk of selling off a huge chunk of your roster in just a few weeks.

Not just the Tigers but the American League as a whole are, for the most part, totally undecided as to which side of the buyer-seller divide they'll land on. Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris is operating like there won't be a fire sale, but he must be privately planning for any eventuality.

Everyone's eyes will be on the Tigers and Tarik Skubal

Skubal is going to be the talk of the trade deadline, even if he doesn't end up moving at all. As far as we know, the Tigers aren't listening to offers on him right now, and the latest reports suggest that a decision on whether or not to move him will come all the way down to the wire. Harris, who has always been more optimistic about his team than fans, clearly still believes the Tigers will be able to get themselves either in a Wild Card spot or within spitting distance of one before the deadline.

Still, if things still aren't looking great by the All-Star break, Harris is going to have to start seriously considering a few things. If Skubal is traded, the package Harris manages to get back will define his legacy in Detroit. It's a lot of pressure, especially for a guy who has yet to make a major trade in his nearly four seasons at the helm, but there's little sympathy to go around.

Will Jahmai Jones survive past the deadline?

For fans, Jones is the perfect encapsulation of everything that's wrong with the offense this season. The former lefty killer can't kill lefties anymore, but AJ Hinch refuses to give up on him based on what he did in the ever-growing distant past. In doing so, his own manager has kind of set him up for failure; every time he switches out Jones and Kerry Carpenter, he's giving the detractors all the more fuel. But it's also on Harris for keeping him on the roster this entire time.

But say the Tigers are within reach of a postseason spot by the deadline. Could the narrative flip; could the Tigers actually be buyers? If so, would they be willing to go out and get the powerful righty bat everyone wanted them to last year? Or will they stick with Jones?

Casey Mize could be a valuable trade piece, but he might be worth keeping in Detroit

Mize might never live up to the expectations that have weighed on him since the Tigers took him first overall in the 2018 draft, but he's gotten closer to it than we've ever seen him this season. Despite having gone on and off the IL a few times, he has a 2.63 ERA in 12 starts and just pitched what might be a career-best against the Yankees: seven innings, one hit, zero runs, 10 strikeouts.

The Tigers could certainly find a suitor for Mize at the deadline without having to try very hard, but keeping him would arguably be better for the team in the long-term — provided a contract extension or a plan to re-sign him is in the works. Detroit might not be able to get a ton back for Mize given his injuries, but he's a far more affordable veteran to keep around toward the front of the rotation with Framber Valdez.

Gleyber Torres is as good as gone (if he can get healthy)

Torres and Mize are in similar buckets: veterans who deadline buyers would gladly make a deal for, but who have been hurt a little too much to get true hauls back. However, there's less incentive for the Tigers to keep Torres in 2027 and beyond given Hao-Yu Lee's improvements in the major leagues, so they might as well let him go for whatever they can get back.

The problem, of course, is whether or not he'll be healthy enough to sell. Torres, too, has been on the IL twice this year, but hasn't bounced back from his second stint as quickly as Mize. According to the team's latest medical update, he has yet to start swinging a bat again. But if he does manage to get healthy, he's almost certainly gone.

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