The door remains open for the Detroit Tigers to potentially trade two-time AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal.
Per ESPN’s Buster Olney, the Tigers are still engaged in talks with other teams for Skubal even though it’s unclear if they will actually move him.
Olney added Detroit’s asking price for Skubal is “enormous” right now.
Any movement, one way or another, could come next week as executives from all 30 teams descend on Orlando for the winter meetings.
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal said on Monday’s episode of the Foul Territory podcast that Skubal isn’t going to be traded unless the Tigers feel really pushed to move him.
It’s unclear exactly what that means because there doesn’t seem to be any indication Skubal and the Tigers are moving closer to a long-term extension, but the team has made the playoffs in each of the past two seasons and has aspirations of getting back to the playoffs in 2026.
In a ranking of players who could potentially be traded this offseason, ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel predicted a 10 percent chance Skubal moves because they intend to compete for a playoff spot.
Passan and McDaniel cited the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and Baltimore Orioles as the most likely landing spots if a deal materializes.
It’s difficult to figure out Skubal’s trade value because he’s arguably the best pitcher in MLB right now, but he has just one year of team control remaining. The left-hander will likely be seeking a record-breaking contract in free agency next offseason.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post and MLB Network reported in October that Skubal and the Tigers were “close to $250 million” apart in extension talks last offseason.
After winning a second consecutive Cy Young award in 2025, Skubal’s price has only gone up. But if an acquiring team doesn’t think they could sign him to a long-term deal, how much would they feel comfortable giving up for just one year of certainty that he will be with them?
The Tigers are in a difficult spot because if for some reason they struggle early next season and don’t look like a playoff contender, trading Skubal before the deadline when he will be only a couple months from free agency significantly lowers his value.
There’s no easy answer for the Tigers if they aren’t going to offer Skubal the type of contract that would get him to bypass free agency. The 29-year-old has led the AL in ERA in each of the past two seasons. He set career-bests in ERA (2.21), innings (195.1) and strikeouts (241) in 2025.