The biggest name on the 2026 MLB trade market is a reigning Cy Young winner, and the bidding is starting to take shape. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, four finalists have emerged for Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal.
Those four teams are the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, and San Diego Padres. Nightengale went as far as to call a Skubal trade at the deadline ‘inevitable,’ which is a strong word for a pitcher of this caliber.
The reasoning is simple. The Tigers are tied with the Royals at the bottom of the AL Central at 22-34, and a rebuilding team holding an ace on an expiring window has every incentive to cash in.
Why Only Four Teams Can Realistically Win
Acquiring Skubal is not for the faint of heart. Rival executives believe the bidding will come down to teams that can both afford the remainder of his $32 million contract and stomach giving up prized prospects. That short list of franchises with the money and the farm system narrows things quickly.
The Dodgers are the obvious heavyweight. They always are. The Yankees need rotation help and have the financial muscle. The Blue Jays have been aggressive before. And the Padres have surfaced as a serious player, which makes sense given their rotation falls off a cliff after Michael King and Randy Vásquez.
San Diego adding a true ace would transform that team into a legitimate World Series threat. The Padres have the lineup. What they lack is front-line pitching, and Skubal would solve that overnight.
Should Detroit Actually Pull the Trigger?
This is where it gets tricky. Trading a homegrown Cy Young winner is painful, and it risks alienating a fan base that has waited a long time for a winner. But the cold math says you have to do it.
The Tigers are not contending this year, and Skubal’s value will never be higher. Flipping him for a haul of young talent is how a rebuilding team accelerates the next competitive window. Holding him and getting nothing when he walks would be franchise malpractice.
The deadline is still weeks away, which means this saga has plenty of room to twist. But the smart money says Skubal is pitching for a contender by August, and one of these four teams is about to get a whole lot scarier.
Detroit holds the best trade chip in baseball. Now they have to maximize it.
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.
