The Detroit Tigers keep saying they don’t expect to trade him, but the temperature around the league suggests otherwise about Tarik Skubal. Detroit may not be shopping it’s Cy Young winner, but one former MLB GM says the word among executives is that they’re listening.
And listening is usually the first step to movement when an ace reaches this stage of his career.
Here’s the thing: former MLB GM Jim Bowden is adamant that the Tigers cannot extend Skubal this winter without rewriting the market. He reported that any deal would need to make Skubal the highest-paid pitcher in the sport “by a lot.” Detroit has never played in that stratosphere.
With the club and Skubal’s camp sitting hundreds of millions apart last winter, there’s no shortcut to closing that gap.
That’s why the Tigers are listening. They can’t just let Skubal walk at the end of the 2026 season with only a compensatory draft pick to show for it.
Waiting until July makes little strategic sense either. The Tigers are positioned to be in the postseason race, and contenders rarely subtract their best arm during a hunt. The return would also be lighter midseason, when fewer teams are willing to part with blue-chip prospects.
If the Tigers want the type of haul that resets a franchise, this winter is the window.
The Market is There
The suitors are obvious. The Yankees, Dodgers, Mets, Red Sox, and Phillies all check Bowden’s boxes. They need big-market resources and rotation help. Each has publicly or privately acknowledged needing a frontline starter.
Each knows the bidding starts high and goes higher.
Detroit could run it back, hope their young core pushes them into October, and try extension talks again next winter. But the Tigers will get an overwhelming offer from at least one of those clubs.
When they do, standing pat becomes harder to justify.
Unless Detroit suddenly becomes the kind of team that outbids the Dodgers or Yankees for a record-setting ace, the trade market may end up deciding Skubal’s future for them. From where I’m sitting, that seems like the most likely outcome here.
