Matt Johnson
Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal made history this offseason being being awarded the largest arbitration salary in baseball history. Now coming off consecutive AL Cy Young Awards, the biggest question centers around his future with the club.
Fansided.com‘s MLB insider Robert Murray wrote that when Skubal’s new deal this winter resets the market for starting pitchers, there is a “strong likelihood” that the deal will be signed with a team outside of Detroit.
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- Tarik Skubal contract (Spotrac): $32 million salary in 2026
The Tigers will reportedly make an effort to retain the perennial All-Star who is on a Hall of Fame trajectory. However, any deal to land Skubal is likely going to start in the ballpark of $50-plus million per season.
Skubal, who will turn 30 in November, has already been widely connected in MLB rumors to the New York Yankees. It’s also expected that clubs like the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, and Baltimore Orioles will get involved.
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If the Tigers front office recognizes it has no realistic chance of re-signing Skubal, then the question becomes what the team does with him at the MLB trade deadline.
The likeliest approach is keeping him and just taking the compensation pick in the 2027 MLB Draft when he rejects the qualifying offer and signs elsewhere. However, if Detroit is out of contention, the better long-term move could be flipping Skubal for a package of top prospects that would be far more valuable than a single compensation pick after the first round.
