The Tigers Are Trending Toward Trading Tarik Skubal and Every Contender Should Be on the Phone
The Detroit Tigers are sliding out of the AL Central race and Tarik Skubal is increasingly likely to be the biggest name moved at the MLB trade deadline.
Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported this week that the Tigers are trending toward trading Skubal before the August 3 deadline. Detroit is currently 14 games under .500 and has shown no signs of climbing back into contention. With Skubal becoming a free agent after the season, the math is brutal. Trade him now for prospects, or lose him for nothing in November.
That decision should be easy. It is also one of the most painful things a small-market franchise can do, because Tarik Skubal is a top-three pitcher in baseball.
He won the AL Cy Young in 2024. He won it again in 2025. He is the best left-handed starter on the planet and the only ace Detroit has produced in a generation. The Tigers built their fan base back around him during the early stages of the rebuild. Trading him will hurt in a way the front office is not going to admit publicly.
The salary number is also part of the issue. Skubal is making a record $32 million this season as a result of his Cy Young arbitration spike. That money is a meaningful chunk of the Tigers payroll and the Detroit front office has been clear it cannot extend him long term at the contract he will command in free agency. He is going to ask for north of $300 million. Detroit cannot match that.
The suitors are obvious. The Dodgers are the most aggressive buyers in baseball and have already been linked to him. The Yankees need pitching and have the prospect capital to make a real offer. The Mariners would love to bring him home to the Pacific Northwest. The Phillies, the Mets, the Red Sox, and even the Cubs have all been mentioned as potential bidders.
The complication is Skubal’s recent health. He underwent a procedure on May 6 and has been working his way back from the injured list. Reports this week have him throwing a 40-pitch simulated game, which is the next step in his rehab. He is expected back in the rotation by mid-July, just in time for contending teams to evaluate him before the deadline.
A healthy Skubal returns the biggest prospect haul in years. The Tigers should be asking for two top-50 prospects, two MLB-ready pieces, and an extra lottery ticket. The Dodgers would have to part with multiple top farm names. The Yankees would have to give up a real piece of their pitching depth. The cost would be high.
That is why the Tigers should pull the trigger. Detroit’s rebuild has stalled. They have not developed enough position players. Their bullpen has been a disaster. The most valuable asset on the roster is also the one with the shortest window to be traded for real value.
The romantic version of this story is that the Tigers find a way to extend Skubal and keep him in Detroit. That is not happening. The contract demand is too big. The roster around him is too weak. The realistic version is a deadline blockbuster that sends Skubal to a contender for a package that resets the Tigers’ farm system.
Get the Cy Young winner. Get the prospects. The deal will be the biggest move of the deadline, and the Tigers should be the team making 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.
