With under a month to Trade Deadline, Skubal staying steady for Tigers

This story was excerpted from Jason Beck's Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

One of the undervalued strengths of Tarik Skubal's game has been the ability to block out potential distractions and focus on the task at hand. Whether it’s his contract situation, the potential for free agency, the clamor of trade speculation, the cutting-edge surgery that brought him back to action much faster than expected from a loose body in his elbow, Skubal has always found the mound to be his center of balance. It’s what has helped make him one of baseball’s clutch performers over the past few years.

That focus will be tested over the next four weeks unlike any time in Skubal’s career. The trade speculation that has percolated since last offseason could either cool -- or reach a boil.

“I really don't care about it,” Skubal said when asked about it following his start against the Yankees last Tuesday. “If I let that creep in, it's just another distraction. I really don't care. My job is to go out there and compete and win baseball games for the Detroit Tigers, and I'm going to keep doing that until I'm told I'm on another team. That's how it really goes. That can't dictate my work or how I go into my business.

“It's part of the business; I get it. It'll get loud. Hopefully we quiet it down because we're going to win a lot of baseball games and quiet that noise. That's kinda my two cents on it.”

The Tigers have shown signs of the kind of run that would vault them back into the thick of the American League playoff race, at least for a Wild Card spot. But so far, they have yet to sustain it long enough to meaningfully change their situation. For that kind of lengthy run, the time to start is now.

Skubal believes they can do it.

“Even throughout all these losses, I've never lost faith in this group,” Skubal said. “I'm very confident in this group. I've said this before, I don't think our record reflects the type of ballclub [we are], and I guarantee if you ask every single team that we're playing, I think they would say the exact same thing I'm saying. I think that they don't take us lightly because we're whatever games under .500. I think they think that we're a really good baseball team. We just need to win baseball games. That's what really matters. Results matter right now. Wins matter a lot.

“I'll never lose faith in these guys. I get to watch them prepare. I get to watch all the stuff behind the scenes, the work that goes on. It's a special group and we just need to start winning.”

The Trade Deadline is Aug. 3, an off-day for the Tigers in the middle of a three-city trip to the West Coast. Detroit has 13 home games before then, a pair of homestands that includes this coming week against the Athletics and Phillies. If the Tigers don’t get back in the playoff race, Skubal’s incredible Tiger tenure could be down to a few more games at Comerica Park.

Asked if that thought had crossed his mind, Skubal said, “Sure. I mean, that's the reality, right? I'd be lying if I said it hadn't, but I can't let that impact my day to day and who I am on the mound and what I'm trying to do, which is win baseball games here. I hate saying, ‘Turn around the season,’ but we kind of have to turn it around a little bit, right? That's just the reality of the beast. But it doesn't impact me really at all when I'm out there competing, because I know these guys have my back and I have their back every single day.”

Skubal will get a full All-Star break for the first time since 2023, having not been selected for the Midsummer Classic. It wasn’t a total surprise given the time he missed to injury, even if it was less time than expected. In some ways, it might be a blessing in disguise.

“I haven’t even really mentally thought about the All-Star Game or the All-Star break,” Skubal said last Monday. “If I were to tell you my gut response, it would probably be to not throw in it, but I have no idea. I don’t even know if I’m good enough to be in it this year. I don’t know if my numbers are good enough.”