River Ryan's Tigers debut offers hope Tarik Skubal trade will be an exception to the rule

River Ryan made his much-anticipated Tigers debut on Monday against the Nationals, giving fans our first glimpse at how the Tarik Skubal trade might shape up for Detroit at the major league level.

Fans were never going to react well to anything the Dodgers had given up, short of perhaps their No. 1 prospect and starter like Justin Wrobleski. Letting go of Skubal was about more than just the package the Tigers got in return; it was about saying goodbye to a team leader, one of the best players Detroit has produced in the last decade. It was about the Tigers basically calling it quits on their postseason hopes.

Now that we're over a month removed from the deal, it's easier to look at it with a little more rationality. The Tigers were reportedly enamored by the package the Dodgers had to offer, and as distrustful of Scott Harris and the front office as fans can be and as much as Dodgers prospects tend to not work out, there was some real talent in the deal that we couldn't just dismiss outright.

Ryan pitched three scoreless innings against the Nationals with three strikeouts. All six of his pitches — a four-seam, cutter, changeup, curveball, slider, and sinker — made an appearance.

River Ryan's scoreless Tigers debut offered hope that the Tarik Skubal deal might work out for Detroit in the long run

It's not a secret that most blockbuster trades only work out for the team getting the superstar. There are some exceptions to the rule (the Juan Soto trade worked out pretty well for the Nationals, and less so for the Padres), but the Tigers have seen it firsthand. Every piece of the Justin Verlander deal is either out of the organization or out of baseball entirely.

There are pros and cons with Ryan in particular. He's 28 and hasn't been able to stay healthy through a large swath of his career. But he also has an extensive arsenal (he may even introduce a sweeper at some point) and prospect evaluators who have remained high on him are firm in their belief in his potential, provided he can stay healthy.

Zyhir Hope has also taken off since his initial stumble after the trade and will be representing the Tigers in the Arizona Fall League alongside Bryce Rainer.

At the very least, Ryan's debut proved that it's going to take a while longer to say who actually won this trade. The Tigers are off to a good start.

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