AI Summary
5 min readThe Tigers Gave Away Their Ace, and Everyone Has an Opinion
The 2026 MLB trade deadline produced 48 trades in the final 28 hours before the 6 PM Eastern cutoff, but the deal that still has everyone talking happened two days early: Detroit sent reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal to the Dodgers for a package of minor leaguers that Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris is now defending as the best he could get.
The Skubal Trade and the Art of GM Spin
Harris spent the day after the deadline insisting that waiting until Monday would not have yielded significantly more value, calling that idea "garbage." He claimed multiple teams were in a genuine bidding war right up until the final moments, with offers reaching what he described as "almost audible pain." The Tigers executive rejected the nearly universal criticism that Detroit should have held out until the actual deadline rather than pulling the trigger Saturday night.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (02:42) **Host Opens with Trade Deadline Mania** - Ben Maller declares the 2026 MLB trade deadline the night's lead topic, setting up a postmortem of the flurry of deals.
- 2 (03:40) **Tigers GM Scott Harris Defends Skubal Trade** - Analysis of Detroit's decision to trade Skubal to the Dodgers days before the deadline, and the executive's combative defense of the return.
- 3 (11:30) **Padres GM A.J. Preller Aggressively Adds Pitching** - San Diego acquires Robbie Ray and Casey Mize, sparking the annual backlash from prospect-protecting analysts.
- 4 (16:54) **Angels Hold a Fire Sale, Keep Trout** - Anaheim trades seven major leaguers, dumping nearly 30% of their roster, but notably does not move Mike Trout, Reid Detmers, or Zach Neto.
- 5 (26:15) **Jacob deGrom Vetoes Trade to Braves** - The two-time Cy Young winner invokes his no-trade clause to block a deal to Atlanta, choosing to stay with the sub-.500 Texas Rangers.
- 6 (33:42) **Phillies Makeover: Adding Luis Arraez and Shifting Harper** - Dave Dombrowski acquires the three-time batting champion, forcing a defensive realignment that sends Bryce Harper back to right field.
- 7 (44:37) **Quick Hits: DeAndre Hopkins, Jahmyr Gibbs, Cowboys Sale** - A rapid-fire segment covering three NFL stories.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
Big Ben talks about the Tigers GM addressing the Tarik Skubal trade and defending the wisdom behind it, Jacob deGrom invoking his no-trade clause in order to stay with the Rangers, Maller to the Third Degree, Maller's Mountain of Money: Barack Obama Edition, and more!
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