Tigers fans aren't buying what Boras is selling in latest twist to Tarik Skubal drama

The second Tigers fans think they've picked a side of the Tigers vs. Tarik Skubal arbitration debate, another piece of news surfaces to push us closer to the middle, if not to the other side altogether.

The vast majority of fans — and such unsavory figures as Josh Donaldson and Jim Bowden — were on Skubal's side at the outset, but reports that Skubal and Scott Boras were unwilling to move from their $32 million position had some tentatively hedging toward the Tigers'.

Reports that the Tigers took their offer down from $19.8 million to $19 million ahead of filing had everyone bolting back. Yet more reports that Boras had refused to negotiate with the Tigers, who could've been willing to up to the mid-$20 million range ahead of the deadline, made everyone just want to go into hibernation until the arbitration panel makes a decision.

What we can all agree on here is that Boras is a villain of cartoonish proportions. That's the image he's cultivated for himself and one that he seems to revel in. Said villain added his two cents to the mess on Saturday.

"There are no deadlines for negotiating, other than when we go to the hearing and turn the case over to arbitrators," Boras said. "There's no baseball rule that says you can't negotiate. It's the Tigers' philosophy where they stop negotiations, but that's their choice, not ours. We're continuing to negotiate, and we'll always do so in good faith – up until the hearing when the arbitrators decide."

Scott Boras insisted that he and Tarik Skubal are willing to continue arbitration negotiations with Tigers despite previous reports

It would behoove every baseball fan — not just Tigers fans, and not just in this particular case — to take anything Boras says with a grain of salt. A fair amount of bad publicity for Skubal has come out of this, and Boras could very easily just be doing damage control. It helps his and Skubal's side of it when the Tigers are a tight-lipped organization that would never comment on arb proceedings.

It still seems that this one is headed to a hearing, and that might be exactly what Boras wants. He's not a fan of the arbitration system, and Skubal getting a record-breaking salary in his last year could force MLB to tear it all down and start from scratch.

Skubal and Boras want to get not just more than David Price's $19.75 million salary, or even $27 million when that's adjusted for inflation. They want to beat Soto. They want to set that precedent before Skubal even gets to free agency.

Everyone involved — even Tigers fans just trying to take in all of this information as quickly as it's coming — is bracing for a hearing. It'd be nice if we were proven wrong, but nothing about this has been nice.