Latest Tarik Skubal intel has infamous Red Sox voice nosing in on Tigers' business

Despite all of the incessant trade proposals and will-they-won't-they from pundits, the Tigers themselves have reportedly maintained the same position on Tarik Skubal for weeks now. They don't plan on trading him.

Scott Harris has always said, a lot of the time to the chagrin of fans, that he can't do his job without listening. While it certainly wouldn't be surprising to learn that teams have called to check in and that Harris has listened, it does seem like the Tigers really aren't motivated to move their ace. The next few weeks could change that, but for now they're maintaining a winning mindset.

On Thursday, Ken Rosenthal took to Foul Territory to say more of the same: the Tigers aren't expected to trade him. This inevitably prompted a new wave of discourse not only within the Tigers fandom but without.

There's a broad range of thought among Tigers fans, and a lot of it feels inane depending on which side you fall on. But something we can all come together to agree on is that all of the opinions coming from talking heads who don't know anything about the Tigers need to cease and desist.

Divisive Red Sox personality Jared Carrabis weighed in on the latest rumor, and had the audacity to compare the Tigers hanging onto Skubal to the Angels hanging onto Shohei Ohtani.

Tigers fans are being subjected to more terrible Tarik Skubal takes as trade deadline approaches

Maybe it's just that we take a particular amount of offense to the Tigers being compared to the Angels. The Tigers are not a perfect team — fans would be the first to admit that — and they are provably better with Skubal, but they also will not fall apart without him. Yes, the Tigers hurt without him in May, but that was an all-around failure that Skubal wouldn't have been able to save them from.

And he's struggled since he came back from surgery. The Tigers have picked themselves up and posted the AL's best record since June 1 without Skubal being at his best. Could the Angels have ever said the same when they had Ohtani?

Trading Skubal would yield a few assets for the Tigers, but he might not even be able to fetch a truly respectable package with half a year of control, $10 million left on his 2026 contract, and a surgery in the rearview mirror. He's also simply not Shohei Ohtani.

But Skubal said it himself back in June: if the Tigers want the rumors to stop, they just have to win. These next two weeks are absolutely pivotal, and hopefully they'll shut everyone up.

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