Scott Harris' response to Tigers-Tarik Skubal trade rumors is too political

Despite one particular reporter from LA certain that a Tarik Skubal trade was going to happen at the Winter Meetings, the three-day event passed almost silently for the Tigers. Skubal is staying in Detroit — at least for now.

Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo of The Athletic weighed in on the Skubal rumors as they've pertained to the Dodgers. They wrote explicitly that trading for Skubal was "even less likely" than the Dodgers signing Kyle Tucker (they don't want to give him a six- or seven-year deal), but didn't rule it out. The timing of it — so soon after David Pingalore swore a deal was in place — certainly didn't help paranoid Tigers fans.

And neither did Scott Harris himself. During his media availability at the Meetings, he continued to stress that no player was untouchable to him, and he "couldn't do [his] job" if he didn't listen. He insisted it wasn't a comment on Skubal, but the Tigers can never rule out anything that might make the organization better as a whole.

It was comments like that that sparked all of these rumors in the first place. After the Tigers' postseason exit, he didn't even explicitly say that Detroit would listen on offers for Skubal, but by simply declining to shut them down entirely, it opened up the can of worms that fans will be stuck with until Skubal is officially named next year's Opening Day starter (and then we'll have the trade deadline to worry about).

Scott Harris didn't say anything Tigers fans don't already know about Tarik Skubal trade rumors

Harris is going to keep one foot in both possibilities — trade Skubal or keep him — until things go one way or the other. He is never going to say with absolute certainty, "Yes, Tarik Skubal is going to be traded," or "No, he's not going to be traded." That's not unusual for executives, not in the slightest, but others showed a lot more candor at Winter Meetings (the Phillies admitted that they have spoken to other teams about Nick Castellanos) that Tigers fans would certainly appreciate even a little bit of from Harris. All he needed to do was shut it down with the media ... even if he was "listening."

It's going to keep Tigers fans in limbo for the next year. Even if Skubal's on the Opening Day roster, you really never know; the Red Sox traded Rafael Devers on a random day in mid-June.

Harris is a smooth operator. He works quietly and is very, very good at not showing his hand. Even if that Dodgers-Tigers trade was really in the works, we may never get real confirmation on it.

Harris will continue to play politician — that's just how he works — and Tigers fans will have to keep stewing in suspense.