Former Braves manager is getting savaged for ridiculous Tarik Skubal disrespect

The question of "who is the best starting pitcher in baseball" is a pretty easy one to answer, considering Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal is the reigning two-time American League Cy Young Award winner. The tiniest exception can be for Paul Skenes because, well, Pittsburgh Pirates fans don't have much else that they can lay claim to.

The right answer is still Skubal, but again, lets offer an olive branch when one is available.

Honestly, the conversation may have reached the point where the cool thing is to snub Skubal when the question is asked. Kind of like there was always one person to talk down the Kansas City Chiefs when they were in the middle of their back-to-back Super Bowl titles.

For Skubal and the best pitcher in baseball conversation, former Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker is that person. Snitker was asked that very question as a guest on MLB Network, and inexplicably, neither Skubal nor Skenes was his answer.

Instead, Snitker pointed to 36-year-old Chris Sale and said, "Yep, that's the guy". Ok, sure, but Skubal had to be No. 2, right? Nope. Snitker stuck to his Braves' roots and gave that honor to Max Fried.

Former Braves skipper getting torched over Tarik Skubal disrespect

Fine, fine, Skubal as No. 3 is weird, but we get Snitker's allegiance to his former guys. Which is why it's even odder that the former manager pointed to Jacob deGrom to round out his top three. SkubTarik al finally appears at No. 4, and Skenes is right behind him.

Yes, we also noticed that Los Angeles Dodgers' starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto is comically low on this as well.

Now that Snitker is retired, perhaps he has time to catch up with baseball outside of the National League East. His top three reads like an NL East nostalgia trip, which is even more hilarious, considering deGrom has been with the Texas Rangers for the last three seasons and has been injured most of the time.

We're in the dog days of the offseason. Most of the headline moves have been completed, and Major League Baseball is twiddling its thumbs before the start of spring training in February. They need something to get the people going, and for that, thank you, Brian Snitker.

There remains plenty of drama between the Tigers and Skubal, but for his moment, everyone can be united to laugh at a truly awful ranking of the game's top starting pitchers.