Tigers insider places lofty expectations on River Ryan as Tarik Skubal trade remains in flux

River Ryan's two starts for the Tigers in 2026 were a mixed bag. His debut went swimmingly — three innings of scoreless baseball with one walk and three strikeouts — but his follow-up was less than stellar: 1 1/3 innings, two earned runs, two walks, three strikeouts.

This tells us next to nothing because Ryan came to the Tigers as such an unknowable entity in the first place. He pitched four starts with the Dodgers in 2024 before undergoing Tommy John, and an attempted comeback in 2026 was hampered by hamstring issues. Though electric (1.33 ERA, 305 ERA+) in his first major league stint, the sample size on his career as a whole are still too small.

Prospect evaluators have been split on him, too, mostly owing to the injuries and missed time. He might have promise, but are the Tigers really going to stake their future on a 28-year-old prospect?

Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic said of Ryan, "If there's one player who could define the Scott Harris tenure, it's [him]," on Tiger Territory.

That's a lot of pressure to put on the arguable centerpiece of the trade that sent a two-time Cy Young winner out the door, but Stavenhagen also isn't wrong.

Scott Harris' time as Tigers head will be summed up by the success or failure of the Tarik Skubal trade

Before the deadline, Stavenhagen himself cast some doubt on whether or not Harris could pull off a Skubal trade that would do the organization justice. Although Harris has had his success — specifically, Michael Lorenzen to the Phillies for Hao-Yu Lee — perhaps the most consequential trade of his now-four years with the Tigers (before Skubal) was sending Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers for Thayron Liranzo and Trey Sweeney, and we still haven't seen half of that return at the major league level.

Skubal is in a stratosphere all on his own, though. Although the Dodgers losing the World Series or even the NLCS could render the trade an immediate win for the Tigers, there will always be that sword hanging over Harris' head. If Ryan and Zyhir Hope amount to anything less than a No. 1 or even 2 starter and a solid everyday player, Harris' time in Detroit will be viewed as an overall failure.

The jury will remain out on Ryan for some time, and at this point, all we can really hope for is that he's healthy by Opening Day in 2027. But if he remains healthy and the Tigers install him right behind or even in front of Framber Valdez at the beginning of the season, it won't only be Tigers fans who are hawkeyed on the results.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow