Tigers eschewing Dodgers ‘better’ trade options for Tarik Skubal is already paying off

It’s been over a week since the Detroit Tigers traded away their ace Tarik Skubal to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a deal that sent shockwaves throughout MLB. There was a lot of anger, confusion, and plenty of conspiratorial thinking that came as a result of the move, but the Tigers seem to have been vindicated early on.

One of the biggest complaints that came after the trade was the Tigers' light return. Some viewed that as Detroit playing favorites or the Dodgers being able to pull strings somehow, but the players who many thought should be included in the deal haven’t done all that well recently.

Many a joke was made about River Ryan, a 27-year-old “prospect,” being included in the deal for Detroit. He’s barely pitched at all in recent years due to injury and it seemed like the Tigers probably should have gone after a young pitcher with some substantive big league experience like Emmet Sheehan or Justin Wrobleski. 

Well, maybe the Tigers are happy those guys weren’t in the deal.

Dodgers pitchers many felt Tigers should have gotten have been quite bad recently

Sheehan was recently demoted to Triple-A after struggling mightily this season. He has a 5.29 ERA in 20 big league starts this season and his first outing in Triple-A did not go very well either.

He had a 2.82 ERA last season, which showed plenty of promise, but that may have only been a mirage with the way the 26-year-old has struggled this year.

As for Wrobleski, his last few outings have been poor as well. He was an All-Star earlier this season but in his last three starts the lefty gave up five earned runs in six innings of work, seven earned runs while not making it through the fifth, and three earned runs in 3 and 1/3 innings.

Maybe this is just a bump in the road, but his numbers in 2024 and 2025 were not especially promising and his FIP this year is 4.14 while his ERA is 3.44, which suggests he’s been a little lucky. Maybe he is due to regress.

Ryan has yet to throw a pitch for the Tigers since he is currently dealing with a hamstring issue. Who knows if he will end up being better than Sheehan or Wrobleski, but with the way those two have pitched as of late, the Tigers certainly shouldn't feel like they missed out.

The Skubal trade will be analyzed and debated for a long time and we may not know for years who truly won the trade. However, Detroit looks pretty smart, at least early on.

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