Former fan favorite, ESPN reporter lights Tarik Skubal-Yankees rumor fire

The Detroit Tigers, MLB's first team to 60 wins and current holders of the best record in baseball, are going to go ahead and hold onto All-Star Game starting pitcher Tarik Skubal at the MLB trade deadline (breaking!). But Detroit's current reality as fervent buyers didn't stop former New York Yankees outfielder Cameron Maybin from getting a future frenzy started early on Sunday night, while the Tigers were battling the Rangers deep in the heart of Texas.

Skubal's bulldog performance — briefly undone by reliever Tyler Holton uncorking a two-out, two-strike wild pitch to tie the game, then salvaged by Matt Vierling's game-winner — had all of Detroit exhaling and on its feet. Maybin couldn't help thinking about bigger stages, though, fantasizing about what might happen if Detroit fumbled their upcoming bag.

It's not just over the horizon. It's well in the distance; Skubal isn't a free agent until the winter after this upcoming free agent fiesta, and might see his bidding war interrupted by a lockout.

Still, you'll forgive Tigers fans for feeling like Maybin was outright fantasizing about Skubal in the Bronx rather than just spinning a yarn.

Former Yankees fan favorite Cameron Maybin has a Tarik Skubal wish

Would Skubal really get filthier with the Yankees? Would he really hold a bigger spotlight than the one he currently commands in a smaller city (and on a team with a better record than the Bronx Bombers)?

It wasn't just Maybin who fanned the flames on Sunday night, either. Though he infuriated Tigers fans to no end, he was only taking cues from ESPN's Buster Olney on the broadcast, who all but eliminated any teams besides the Yankees, Dodgers and Mets from the forthcoming Skubal race.

And, to demonstrate that quote to you, allow me to embed the most insufferable post since the genesis of human life.

Going to be all but impossible for the Yankees or Dodgers to compete with the sway that a hitting coach many Mets fans wish would be fired holds, but all they can do is try.

$400 million is an awful lot of clams, and the Yankees haven't spent that heftily on an imported pitcher since they splurged for Gerrit Cole in the first place. Skubal could be their heir apparent — but the game's freest spenders in the Mets and Dodgers will undoubtedly also be involved.

The cost of aura and moxie has certainly gone up in recent years. Buckle up.