Scott Harris, Tigers have moral obligation to Tarik Skubal after Kyle Tucker decision

There are business decisions in baseball, and then there are lines you simply do not cross.

The Detroit Tigers trading Tarik Skubal to the Los Angeles Dodgers would be one of those lines.

Last week’s arbitration standoff already rattled this fanbase. Seeing Detroit file at $19 million while Skubal countered at $32 million wasn’t just about money — it was about tone. About message. About what this organization is willing to say, implicitly, to the best pitcher it has developed in a generation.

Then the Dodgers went out and did what the Dodgers always do. They threw a four-year deal worth $240 million at Kyle Tucker.

This is a display of raw, unapologetic muscle. The richest franchise in the sport announcing, yet again, that they will never assume tomorrow is guaranteed. That winning is a responsibility. That dominance must be defended, not admired.

And suddenly, the idea of Skubal in Dodger blue doesn’t feel hypothetical anymore. It feels like a threat.

This is the moral crossroads for the Tigers. Because here’s the truth: Detroit is not supposed to beat the Dodgers at their own game. No one expects Chris Ilitch to operate like Mark Walter. But Detroit is obligated to protect the meaning of its own rebuild. To protect what Skubal represents. To protect the idea that when a homegrown ace drags a franchise back into relevance, the reward is not a West Coast exile to baseball’s Death Star.

Skubal isn’t just another asset. He’s the face of the comeback. He’s the proof that all of this waiting mattered. He’s the first pitcher in years who made Comerica Park feel like a destination again. The first arm since Justin Verlander who made opposing lineups look small.

Tigers simply cannot trade Tarik Skubal to Dodgers after Kyle Tucker deal

Trading him to anyone would hurt. Trading him to them would be unforgivable.

It would tell Tigers fans that even when everything finally works — even when the rebuild produces a Cy Young monster in his prime — it still ends the same way. It would confirm the quiet fear that Detroit exists merely as a development lab for richer franchises. That the finish line is always someone else’s starting gate.

And that’s why the Tucker contract changes the equation.

The Dodgers are not satisfied. They are not slowing down. They are not “content with two rings.” They are building an empire. If Detroit hands them Skubal, it’s not just a trade — it’s surrender. It’s acknowledging that the Tigers’ ceiling is to feed the monster, not challenge it.

There is no prospect package that makes that feel right. No farm system haul that replaces what Skubal means.

This franchise asked its fans to be patient. It asked them to believe in process. It asked them to endure 100-loss seasons, empty summers, and endless “next year” rhetoric. Skubal is supposed to be the payoff for that faith.

You do not send that payoff to Hollywood. You build around him. You fight with him. You prove that Detroit is done being a stepping stone.

The Dodgers just showed the world they’re not easing off the gas. The Tigers now have a responsibility to show that their future isn’t for sale — especially not to baseball’s empire.