Padres Star Defends Dodgers' Tarik Skubal Amid Latest Controversy

It may be the most notorious espresso machine in the world.

It's no doubt the most talked-about one.

The espresso machine that Tarik Skubal took with him when he was traded from the Detroit Tigers to the Los Angeles Dodgers has been discussed almost as much as the trade itself.

At the start of the 2026 season, Skubal bought an espresso machine for the Tigers clubhouse. He didn't like the one they had, and felt it would be a nice addition.

Fast forward to the trade deadline, and Skubal was shipped off to LA. Much to the dismay of the rest of the Tigers clubhouse, he took the espresso machine with him.

"I'll wear it," he said to reporters when it was brought up in his return to Detroit last month. "I did buy it, but I guess I'll wear it."

Skubal said his wife, Jessica, was the catalyst behind the decision, telling him, "'That was too expensive to just run the charge back.'"

Thus, the espresso machine went with Skubal, and is currently living in his kitchen at his new LA home.

"Couldn't believe it," Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson joked at the time. "That was a really good espresso machine."

"He also took his fastball-changeup combo with him," manager A.J. Hinch added. "He took it all."

While Skubal has received some unnecessary backlash for the decision, another one of his former teammates finally came to his defense.

Casey Mize, who was also traded to the National League West ahead of the deadline in a deal that sent him to the San Diego Padres, wanted to set the record when the espresso machine was brought up to him in a conversation with Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

"I’m gonna have my boy Skubes’ back here for a second," Mize began, "because in spring training I bought a little $200 machine because we didn’t like some of our coffee options in spring. We needed some espresso. And he said, 'I’m gonna get us a really nice one in Detroit.'

"It took a while for it to ship and get in. He had just gotten it dialed in, I think maybe a month before the trade deadline. And this machine is like $10,000. It’s a very expensive machine. He had just got it the way he wanted. So he was like, 'Yeah, sorry, I’m gonna take it with me.' Which I totally understand."

Mize admitted that Skubal "probably could have bought another one," but added, "he likes his coffee a certain way, and he finally got it the way he wanted, so he wanted to keep it."

"It’s kind of blown up a little bit," Mize said. "So thanks, Skube, for getting that machine for us. And I understand you taking it with you. It’s OK by me."

Skubal is set to hit free agency this offseason, where he's expected to shatter the MLB record for the most expensive contract for a pitcher in MLB history ($325 million to Yoshinobu Yamamoto).

If the Tigers are willing to pay him what he wants in free agency, he'd likely have no problem buying another machine for that clubhouse.

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