The Tigers better start winning, or otherwise prepare their goodbyes for Tarik Skubal.
Detroit’s ace and a pending free agent acknowledged that the last-place squad better turn its season around fast, “or else” there will surely be a roster shakeup.
And that reconfiguration would probably include trading away the back-to-back AL Cy Young Award winner.
Tarik Skubal and the Tigers are 30-44. Getty Images
“The reality of the situation is, we need to play better baseball,” Skubal told the Detroit News earlier this week. “I’ve said that before, and I’ll continue to say that. My belief in this group has never changed. But the reality is, we need to play better baseball, or else come the deadline, you give the front office an option to reassess where this team is.
“And if they don’t think what we have is a World Series- or playoff-caliber team, then the whole team is going to look different. That’s just the nature of the beast.”
The Tigers passed on trading Skubal this offseason with one year left on his deal after reaching the ALDS last year, but this year’s struggles may leave the team with no option but to move him.
Detroit has vastly underperformed with its 30-44 record, the fourth-worst mark in the sport, and Fangraphs gives the Tigers just a 15.4 percent chance to reach the playoffs.
There have been no indications that the sides are close to a potential long-term deal, and teams like the Tigers have to capitalize on losing seasons when they have premium assets on expiring deals, such as Skubal, if they don’t believe he will re-sign in free agency.
Skubal should command a nice package on the trade block that exceeds what Detroit would receive if he declined the qualifying offer and signed elsewhere.
Skubal just returned from elbow surgery. Getty Images
The 29-year-old just returned from elbow surgery, and The Post’s Jon Heyman recently ranked him as the top trade option with the Aug. 3 trade deadline some six weeks away.
“The future for a lot of people in this room, not just myself, the outlook could look very much different in two months, and it all comes to an abrupt end,” Skubal told the Detroit News.
The blessing for the Tigers is they play in the weakened AL Central, and they sit 9 1/2 games back entering this weekend’s home three-game set with the division-leading White Sox.
Heyman listed the resurgent Blue Jays as a potential fit, while the NL East-leading Braves and Cubs could use frontline arms, and the Dodgers always lurk as the sport’s superpower.
The Post’s baseball columnist views the AL East-leading Yankees as long shots for the lefty.
Skubal is 3-3 with a 2.81 ERA in eight starts this season, and just made his return June 13 in a losing effort against the Guardians, allowing three runs (two earned) in 4 2/3 innings.
“We still control our destiny a little bit,” Skubal told the Detroit News. “We still do. We play the team this weekend that’s winning our division. It’s another big series. You don’t want to be playing playoff baseball in June, but it feels like we’re playing playoff baseball. We don’t have very much room for error and everyone understands that.
“Everyone understands there has to be a sense of urgency. There has to be. Not panic. But there has to be a sense of urgency to try to win every game we play.”
