ORLANDO, Fla. – The Tigers and Tarik Skubal have shown no reported progress on a contract extension, but there appears to be no deadline on talks heading into what would be the two-time Cy Young winner’s contract year.
Asked if there’s a cutoff point for any negotiations, whether heading into Spring Training or Opening Day, agent Scott Boras – who represents Skubal – indicated there was not.
“We’ve always been a listener. It’s always been our attitude,” Boras said Tuesday morning during his annual Winter Meetings media session. “That’s up to Tarik as to how he wants to handle that. I have not discussed anything like that with him, but certainly at this point, my instructions are to listen to anything that they have to say.”
The Tigers have declined comment on Skubal’s contract situation this offseason.
Boras, who has become known for his puns when discussing his clients, had a run of them when asked about Skubal negotiations at another point during his 20-minute session.
“Skubal is metrically dominant, both in advanced and traditional measures. He’s truly a SABR-proof Tiger,” Boras said with a wry smile. “If you want to look at the tale of the Tiger, without Skubs, they’re a Mystery Machine.”
Asked if the Tigers should go all-in for Skubal’s contract year, Boras said, “That’s not my decision to make, but certainly I think they’ve identified that a Skubal start is a very important event for the Tigers.”
Speaking of Skubal
Will Skubal pitch in the World Baseball Classic going into his contract year? Team USA is recruiting him to try.
“We’re trying,” Team USA general manager Michael Hill said Tuesday. “We’re working through our pitching, trying to put together the deepest pitching staff we can.”
While Team USA has received commitments from several hitters, Paul Skenes is the only pitcher so far who has committed.
Team USA manager Mark DeRosa said he called Skubal last April, but has respected his privacy since then. Hill said they visited during the MLB awards last month, trying to emphasize the honor of wearing the red, white and blue in competition.
“I know if I was a player of that ilk, I would not want to be getting blown up by the manager of Team USA while I’m trying to win a World Series,” DeRosa said. “Just every once in a while, a text, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about you.’”
Skubal isn’t the only Tigers All-Star being recruited. Riley Greene has been getting the pitch to join Puerto Rico by teammate Javier Báez, coach Joey Cora, manager Carlos Beltrán and others. Greene’s mother is from Puerto Rico.
“I shoot him a text,” Beltrán said. “There’s no doubt that Joey and Javy have had conversations with him. He’s on our [preliminary] roster, and if he wants to participate, he will be more than welcome, and I will be very excited, because he’s a power bat.”
A report later Tuesday suggested Greene had verbally committed to Puerto Rico, but that appears to be premature.
Greene, born and raised in nearby Oviedo, Fla., also qualifies for Team USA. But its depth of left-handed-hitting outfielders makes any hope of making the USA roster longer.
Ribas joins Rockies as assistant pitching coach
Gabe Ribas has been a critical behind-the-scenes member of the Tigers’ player development staff over the past four years as director of pitching, playing a big role in the development of pitchers like Jackson Jobe and Reese Olson. But the Rockies announced on Tuesday that they’ve hired Ribas as an assistant pitching coach on manager Warren Schaeffer’s staff, leaving a big void in Detroit.
While Chris Fetter was the architect of the Tigers’ pitching development overhaul, Ribas was a master builder, earning a strong reputation as a pitch design guru after the Tigers hired him away from the Dodgers in 2021. Ribas was not a pitching coach at any level, though he filled in for stretches at various Tigers affiliates.