Will the Tigers Trade Tarik Skubal? MLB Insiders Are Skeptical Detroit Actually Moves Him
Every MLB team wants Tarik Skubal. Not enough of them can actually pay for him. That is the story of this year’s trade deadline, and it is why Skubal will probably still be a Detroit Tiger on August 4.
Skubal is the reigning back to back American League Cy Young winner. He is in the final year of his contract. He is the biggest trade chip available in baseball. And multiple executives across the sport have gone on record saying the same thing: the Tigers are not going to move him unless they have to, and the asking price will be absurd.
An anonymous NL executive told ESPN this week that the early asks are going to be “outrageous” and that no team will pay that price. Skubal is worth an outrageous ask. He is one of the two best pitchers in the sport, and controllable through the end of the season with real playoff value.
The problem for potential suitors is that Detroit is still in the playoff race.
The Tigers are hovering around a wild card spot. They are not out of the AL Central. Skubal himself has reportedly told close friends that he wants to stay in Detroit for the rest of 2026 and that he believes in the team’s title chances. He is not agitating for a trade.
That changes everything. If the player wants to stay, the front office is going to be reluctant to move him. Scott Harris, Detroit’s GM, has been in situations like this before with the Giants and Cubs. He does not do panicked trades.
The teams that make sense as landing spots are the ones with the deepest farm systems and the biggest budgets. The Los Angeles Dodgers are the obvious one. They always need pitching. They have the prospects. They have the money. If Detroit decides to move Skubal, LA is the first phone call.
The Chicago Cubs are another. They have started spending again and are trying to break through in the NL Central. Adding Skubal would signal a serious playoff push.
The Atlanta Braves and Tampa Bay Rays have also been mentioned. Both have real farm systems, both are in tight division races. Both would be legitimate title contenders with Skubal.
But even those teams have to weigh the cost. Skubal will command multiple top 100 prospects, likely a Major League ready piece, and maybe an established starter to help balance the deal. That is a real haul, and it comes with the risk that Skubal walks in free agency after the season.
The other question is Skubal’s contract extension. The Tigers have not made a public push to lock him up, and Skubal has not made public demands. Both sides are being careful. That is the smart approach given the money involved. Skubal is going to command well over 300 million dollars whenever he does sign, and he is only 29 years old.
What is most likely to happen at the deadline: Detroit fields calls, listens to offers, and ultimately keeps Skubal to make a run at the postseason. If they miss, they lose him in free agency in November. That is a rough outcome for a franchise, but it is a calculated risk that many small market teams take with their stars.
If Detroit falls out of the race in the next two weeks, everything changes. A losing streak could force Harris to seriously entertain offers. But right now, the Tigers are still relevant, and Skubal is still throwing bullets. There is no reason for him to be anywhere else.
The bidding war will happen. The Tigers just probably will not sell.
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.
