Were Tarik Skubal trade rumors the distraction holding the Tigers back this whole time?

This whole season has felt like one big distraction for the Detroit Tigers. They ended last season with a clear No. 1 priority on the to-do list: re-sign Tarik Skubal. It didn’t happen during the offseason, which would have been ideal, and the fact that it carried over into the regular season did nothing but create distractions for the team.

Skubal wasn’t playing his best baseball as a Tiger and the team was bouncing between last and second-to-last place in the division.

Since Skubal was traded, however, Detroit has looked like an entirely different team, putting together a 6-2 record in August entering Tuesday's game. They’re also outscoring opponents 53-6 in that span. They’ve been averaging nearly seven runs per game and they’ve won two games 11-0 and two more 8-0 since the trade on Aug. 1.

That leads to the question, were the Skubal trade rumors holding the Tigers back this whole time?

It’s hard to attribute the team’s pre-All-Star Break struggles to one man, but not knowing what was going to happen with the Tigers’ best player through the first 100 games was obviously a distraction. It may not have directly caused the team to drop to fourth place in the AL Central, but it didn’t help.

Anyone who has watched the team since that trade has to realize just how much better and looser the team has been playing. The Tigers are playing much more freely and they look like a team with the weight of the world off their shoulders. Is that just a coincidence? The Skubal rumors definitely had something to do with the team being more distracted than AJ Hinch would’ve liked.

It’s also worth noting that since the deal went through, the Dodgers are just 2-7 and began the month of August with six straight losses.

Obviously, no clubhouse wants to lose a core player and team leader, but no longer having to answer questions about if that player will be around in a month or two has been an uplifting experience for the Tigers. They look like a brand-new team.

Other Tigers are stepping up in Tarik Skubal’s place

With Skubal gone, one would think that the team’s pitching would suffer mightily, but that hasn’t been the case. In fact, the Tigers have given up a total of 16 runs in eight games since trading their ace, posting four shutouts in the process.

Keider Montero, Troy Melton, Framber Valdez, and Jackson Jobe all showed that they’re more than capable of leading a playoff-caliber rotation. Each of those starters has a shutout this month.

Melton is showcasing legitimate ace-level stuff and has an absolutely insane 1.46 ERA this season. He has flown under the radar while everyone else has been talking about Skubal. And now that he’s the guy, he’s looking more than capable of leading the team into October.

It’s not just the arms that have been stepping up, the bats have been on fire.

Detroit has scored 8+ runs five times in August already and in eight of the team’s past 11 games. The Tigers have gone from fourth place in the Central all the way to second within 3.5 games of the first-place White Sox and 1.5 games back in the Wild Card race.

If the Tigers didn’t blow that huge lead in Skubal’s last start against the Orioles on July 29, he may still be in Detroit, and the team would have that “will he re-sign?” distraction back.

This may be a rare case of addition by subtraction.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow