Detroit Tigers options with Tarik Skubal: Extend, trade, try to win
On “Days of Roar,” Evan Petzold and Chris Brown break down what could happen with the Detroit Tigers and Tarik Skubal in the 2025-26 MLB offseason.
LAS VEGAS — Tarik Skubal wants to stay in Detroit.
For that to happen, though, the Detroit Tigers will need to extend Skubal’s contract.
The 28-year-old – the first back-to-back American League Cy Young winner in the 21st century – is set to become a free agent after the 2026 season. His agent, Scott Boras, is waiting for another offer from the Tigers, whether it comes from president of baseball operations Scott Harris – or directly from owner Christopher Ilitch.
“We talk a lot. Through the concourse of the offseason, we’ll continue to discuss,” Boras said Wednesday, Nov. 12, at the general manager meetings, roughly six hours before Skubal won the 2025 AL Cy Young Award. “Our point of view is we always listen. We’re prepared to listen to about anything that Chris or really Scott has to say. We’ll just see how it goes.”
In 2024-25, Skubal posted a 2.30 ERA with a 4.5% walk rate and a 31.2% strikeout rate across 387â…“ innings in 62 starts. The left-hander became the first AL pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in consecutive seasons since Pedro MartÃnez in 1999-2000.
The Tigers went 42-20 in Skubal’s 62 starts over the past two seasons – and just 131-131 in all other games. His presence has elevated the Tigers from average into a contender.
“Look, Tarik is a Tiger,” general manager Jeff Greenberg said Wednesday at the GM meetings. “We know how good he is. We know what he’s meant to this organization, especially over the last couple of years. We’re not going to talk about our players in the context of trade or extension.”
Moving forward, the Tigers have three options: extend him, trade him or keep him.
Skubal doesn’t want to leave the Tigers.
“A lot of that is out of my control,” Skubal said Wednesday after his Cy Young win. “Contract extension stuff is a little bit different, but the trade stuff is out of my control. I’ve given everything I have to this organization. I want to be a Tiger for a very long time.
“Those things, the business part of the game, they’re just different. I don’t get to write my own contracts in that sense. … It’s not in my control at the end of the day. I love the city of Detroit. Hopefully, I’m here. I think that’s where I’m at with all that.”
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The Tigers failed to extend Skubal after the 2024 season, when he rejected a four-year offer worth less than $100 million. Skubal projects to become the first pitcher in MLB history to earn $400 million in free agency after the 2026 season.
Will the Tigers try again?
The clock is ticking.
“The fans in Detroit want the Tigers to build a Tarik barrack,” Boras said, unleashing a bit of prepared patter. “The Little Caesars are running around town saying, ‘Cy! Cy!’ It’s the kind of thing where he’s built a base. Everywhere they go, they know it’s Skubal Day. They understand that organization is substantially different if he’s not there. When you’re in these situations, and you go through it, all we know is that we hear mostly from the fans and the player hears from the fans. It should be Scooby-done, right? If not, I think the fans would certainly think it’s a Detroit doink.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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