Tarik Skubal did what any professional athlete would do after a trade. He packed his stuff. He said his goodbyes. He took his espresso machine.
The Detroit Free Press reported that Skubal, who had been sharing the clubhouse espresso machine with teammates all season, unplugged it and took it with him when he was traded to the Dodgers at the deadline. He originally paid for it. He decided it was leaving with him.
Petty? Absolutely. Justified? Also absolutely.
Skubal did not want to leave Detroit. He said as much in his introductory press conference in Los Angeles. He teared up talking about the fans. He talked about wanting to come back. He said all the right things about how the trade was not about him or the Dodgers, but about the Tigers’ front office decision-making.
Then he made sure his espresso machine went to Chavez Ravine.
The Tigers front office does not come out of this looking great. Skubal is the reigning American League Cy Young winner. He is 29. He was under team control for another two seasons. Instead of extending him or riding out a contract year, Detroit took the offer from the Dodgers and moved on.
The return was significant. Outfielder Zyhir Hope, right-hander River Ryan, and right-hander Brady Smith. All three are top prospects. Two could be everyday major leaguers within a year. That is a lot of controllable value for a rebuild that has taken longer than the Tigers thought.
Skubal thinks the front office undervalued what they had. He also thinks he could have led the Tigers back to the playoffs if they had built around him. He said “every team could trade for me” when asked about the Dodgers specifically, and he is right. Every team wanted him. The Tigers picked the buyer.
Los Angeles is very happy. Skubal joined a rotation that already had Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Clayton Kershaw. He immediately became the Game 1 starter for a defending champion trying to repeat. His first three starts with the Dodgers were dominant.
The espresso machine story is about more than coffee. It is about a player leaving on his own terms and taking his own equipment. Detroit was going to be his home. He put down roots. Now the roots go with him.
The Tigers still have a young core. Riley Greene. Kerry Carpenter. Colt Keith. Jackson Jobe. But their ace is gone, and the clubhouse just lost a piece of gear it took for granted every morning. That is a small loss and a symbolic one.
Dodgers fans should enjoy their new coffee setup. Detroit fans should demand the front office explain why they are watching the AL Cy Young pitch in October for someone else. The espresso machine, meanwhile, is now the most famous piece of clubhouse equipment in baseball.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
