The Tigers Went 6-22 in May and Still Don't Think They're Sellers
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With the Detroit Tigers facing a myriad of struggles following a 6-22 May, all signs seem to be pointing to the club repositioning themselves as sellers heading into the August 3 trade deadline, starting with ace and pending free agent Tarik Skubal.
Not so fast, according to ESPN MLB insider Buster Olney. Olney is reporting that Tigers' brass, including president of baseball operations Scott Harris and GM Jeff Greenberg, are informing potential trade partners that, for now at least, they are not selling and still carry playoff aspirations for the 2026 season.
While plenty can change between now and August 3, especially when considering the impending return of Skubal from elbow surgery, Detroit's outlook still demonstrates a level of trust in the current roster. And yes, there has been some cause for optimism of late.
Tigers Showing Signs of Turning Things Around
With a harrowing May behind them, the Tigers are showing signs that they might be turning a corner. The arrival of June has yielded a road sweep of the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays, as the club's offense came alive with 25 runs scored across the three-game series.
Encouragingly for Detroit, it was the team's middle of the order that drove the offensive onslaught. Dillon Dingler delivered three home runs and nine RBI, while Riley Greene collected six hits including two homers and Gleyber Torres had four hits of his own in returning from the injured list.
The returns of Torres and Kerry Carpenter have offered a significant boost to a roster that could be further bolstered by Justin Verlander and Skubal in the coming weeks.
At 25-38 on the season, the Tigers will need more than just three strong games to get back into contention. But the opportunity to rally back into the playoff mix is there. Detroit remains only six games back of a wild card spot in what has been a largely mediocre American League. Even the AL Central division-leading Cleveland Guardians are a mere 5-5 in their past 10 games.
And that doesn't even factor in the potential return of Skubal as a difference-maker, to say nothing of Verlander, Casey Mize, Javier Báez, Kenley Jansen, Jackson Jobe and a host of other Tigers currently sidelined with injuries.
If this is simply a case of Harris, Greenberg and Detroit's front office buying time to see where the team stands deeper into the summer and what a returning, post-surgery Skubal might look like, then it's a sensible play. Skubal would still yield a big return as we get closer to August 3 and they have the luxury of a roster good enough to win now while still being young enough to build around with an eye to the future.
In other words, what's the rush?
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Ben Fisher is a long-time sportswriter and baseball lover, dating back to 2008, when he was a member of the media relations team for the Toronto Blue Jays. He has covered a wide range of sports for a seemingly endless array of publications, including The Canadian Press, Fansided and The Hockey Writers. When he isn't writing about sports, he can be found coaching his equally baseball-obsessed sons' Little League teams.