00:00What we didn't know, George, was that Tarek Skubal was going to break the all-time record for most money given out to a player in arbitration.
00:07I honestly did not think this was going to happen.
00:10The Tigers offered him about 20, and he asked for about 32.
00:12I thought he'd meet somewhere in the middle, whether it was through them agreeing or through arbitration.
00:19But no, the arbiter ruled that Skubal should make 32.
00:22And it was fascinating because they just signed Frambois Valdez less than 48 hours before that to a three-year contract.
00:30So I'm not really sure how this whole thing transpired.
00:34A lot of discussion on this.
00:36A lot of discussion.
00:37Did they sign Valdez because they knew that they were going to lose a Skubal case like a trade Skubal?
00:44Did they sign Valdez because now that they figured that they were just going to have to have Skubal no matter what, that they may as well just go for it?
00:50I mean, I don't know.
00:51I don't know.
00:52What I know is the Tigers are one of those franchises that needed to do this and needs to have those two guys.
00:58A chance to win a World Series, George, doesn't come around very often.
01:01And for Detroit, it's been a really long time.
01:03I know they've been good the last couple of years, but they got, to me, the best or one of the very best managers in baseball in A.J. Hinch.
01:10Top two left-handed pitchers may be in the league.
01:13So hopefully they keep this together because I'd like to see Detroit make a run.
01:19I mean, there's so many ways to go at this.
01:21I always assumed they'd lose.
01:23They low-balled them.
01:24I mean, $19 million?
01:26No matter what you think about $19 million, by the way, as far as baseball salaries are concerned, they low-balled them.
01:30I mean, there was a joke that Boris could just show up to the hearing, drop the two Cy Youngs on the table and go,
01:36Mike dropped.
01:37I'm done.
01:38You know, and just move on from there.
01:40So I wasn't surprised if he won.
01:42I don't know why the Tigers came in so low.
01:44It's like they were trying to make a statement.
01:46Apparently, they basically pushed him towards this as well.
01:48And he lost.
01:49Whatever.
01:50According to Jeff Passan or Ken Rosenthal, I forget which one, had the article I was reading yesterday.
01:55They did not or are not planning on trading him.
01:58They're not right now anyway.
02:00So they weren't saying, oh, we lost.
02:01I'm going to trade him.
02:02Okay.
02:03We'll see if that's true.
02:05I mean, what you said is true, Will, Craig, they're probably the big-time odds-on favorite to win the American League Central.
02:11And you're going to a playoff series with Scoble, you know, Valdez, Casey Mines, Jack Flaherty.
02:19I mean, McGonagall, the rookie, if he ends up being the vector player too, I mean, your offense is better.
02:25I mean, they'd be a true threat.
02:26I don't know if I'd say they're the number one team.
02:28Toronto's still good.
02:29Yankees will be a problem.
02:30Seattle is a very good team.
02:31So there'll be other teams there, but they're certainly a World Series contender in the American League.
02:36Are they better than the Dodgers?
02:37No.
02:37I'm not saying that.
02:38But they're in the American League.
02:39They'd be a contender here, which means what will they do at the trade deadline?
02:43Assuming they don't trade Scoble.
02:45Would they trade him then if they're four games up in the American League Central?
02:48Are you going to risk this?
02:49Are we getting nothing for him?
02:51I mean, it's a huge problem for the Tigers because if you're not going to trade him now, I don't see you trading him at the deadline.
02:56That'd be a PR nightmare.
02:58Well, I would say this just from, you know, talking, you know, again, I have some access to talk to people in the industry and kind of understanding how this works.
03:07So my understanding on Scoble, George, is completely different than what you may think.
03:17Because of the Otani situation, the industry feels like the Angels suffered a catastrophic loss not trading Otani.
03:25And you look back on it now and think even just getting that guy for four months, what could they have gotten?
03:33And they didn't do it.
03:34I don't think the Tigers are going to make that same mistake if they're in a similar position because that's the view on it.
03:41And, you know, thinking back on it now, the Angels are in purgatory sort of forever here.
03:44It feels like they could have got back a huge haul and they just chose not to do it.
03:49Let the guy walk.
03:49So Seattle, yeah, I don't, I mean, that, that is looked at maybe as the, is look, Mookie Betts being traded.
03:57Obviously they got nothing back.
03:59Okay.
03:59Other than that.
04:00And by the way, I still think Heimbloom's great and he's going to do a great job with St.
04:04Louis, but looking back, not trading Otani, George may have destroyed the Angels decade.
04:11Honestly, like, like that, they, I don't know what they could have gotten, but he was the best player in the game.
04:17Then he's the best player in the game now.
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