Jim Bowden's condescending take on Tigers' Tarik Skubal trade is missing a lot of context

River Ryan and Zyhir Hope are letting the Tigers finish their 2026 season with a glimmer of hope that they may one day win the Tarik Skubal trade. Ryan pitched three scoreless innings on Monday, using all six of his pitches, and Hope has shaken out of the funk he was in when he first landed in Erie.

The Tigers are fighting an uphill battle, sure, as Skubal will enter free agency and probably go off the board early to the tune of $400 million or more. The likelihood that either Ryan or Hope will turn into superstars on par with Skubal is still very small. But there's a world in which the Tigers can look back at this trade in a few years and have only minor regrets.

That's a reality Tigers fans are still adjusting to and making peace with, but we'll do that on our own time. We certainly won't respond well when guys like Jim Bowden tell us to.

Bowden had been riding the "the Tigers are going to trade Tarik Skubal" train since well before the deadline. He was positive that he would be proven right as early as Detroit's exit from the 2025 postseason. Accordingly, everything about that tweet is giving off a kind of smugness that fans can't abide.

And to suggest that the Tigers might have any hope of re-signing Skubal? Don't make us laugh.

Jim Bowden's suggestion the Tigers will be able to re-sign Tarik Skubal is laughable

As a former GM, one would think that Bowden would be more in touch with the realities of the current game than his writing suggests he is. Despite once heading the Reds and Nationals, he mostly comes across as a mouthpiece for the bigger-market teams. Everything about his coverage of the offseason Skubal rumors screamed that he wanted him to go to the Dodgers or Mets.

Bowden might be right that Hope will turn into, at the very least, a solid everyday player for the Tigers. It's factually correct that they weren't "good enough to win" this season. But that's not what any of us want to hear from him, of all people.

The Tigers aren't going to re-sign Skubal; they probably won't even be involved in his market. For Bowden to take this kind of self-appointed victory lap around a fanbase that's already dealing with the end of their team's season won't win him any supporters.

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