Heartbreaking: Ben Verlander just made a great point about Tarik Skubal, Tigers arbitration

The $115 million contract the Tigers gave to Framber Valdez on Wednesday night is a record by AAV ($38.33 million) for a left-handed pitcher. It's shocking spending from the ever-thrifty Tigers, who fans suspected were far more likely to land a guy like Lucas Giolito or Chris Bassitt, who will probably make anywhere from $16-20 million a year.

It immediately catapulted the Tigers as favorites to win the AL Central (and all of the American League, according to Bob Nightengale, though we probably wouldn't go that far), but it inevitably drew some angry and probably unfair comparisons.

We still don't know the outcome of Tarik Skubal's arbitration hearing, but Valdez's addition suggests that the Tigers are on track to win.

The reigning two-time Cy Young winner making $19 million while Valdez — very good but decidedly not of Skubal's caliber — is making $38.33 million is, admittedly, not great optically.

However, the contract the Tigers gave Valdez as a free agent isn't a reflection of Skubal may or may not make in arbitration. They're two separate processes and can't (shouldn't) be evaluated in the same way.

Even Ben Verlander, noted coattail rider and general haver of the coldest takes imaginable, had the right idea here.

Ben Verlander made a good point about annoying comparisons between Tigers' contract with Framber Valdez, Tarik Skubal's arbitration hearing

Valdez was the best starter on the free agent market. He ended up making far more than any of ESPN, MLB Trade Rumors, or The Athletic predicted per year, but his market was heating up, and the Tigers made the most competitive offer to land him. That's how free agency works.

Did the Tigers lowball Skubal with their $19 million offer? Yes. And that's going to follow them around for a long time, even after Skubal leaves the team. We've been plenty supportive of Skubal being paid what he's worth.

But again, we're talking about two different situations here. If the Tigers were offering a $19 million AAV after the 2026 season, to try to get Skubal to come back to Detroit — that would be laughably insulting. But the Tigers were reportedly willing to go higher in negotiations ahead of the deadline, and Scott Boras wouldn't have it.

There will come a time for Skubal to be the highest paid pitcher in the history of baseball — and that much is inevitable. He'll smash through not only Valdez's lefty AAV record, but Yoshinobu Yamamoto's overall record. But for now, he has to go through the arbitration process in the same way that everyone else does. And, who knows? He may still win.