{"id":516390,"date":"2026-01-12T07:41:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T07:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/516390\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T07:41:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T07:41:45","slug":"tarik-skubal-tigers-head-to-arbitration-as-trade-buzz-lingers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/516390\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarik Skubal, Tigers head to arbitration as trade buzz lingers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tarik Skubal and the Tigers will head to arbitration.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The two-time Cy Young winner did not come to a contract agreement with the franchise, meaning the two sides appear likely to head to a hearing.<\/p>\n<p>While Skubal and the club could still exchange salary figures and come to a deal after Thursday night\u2019s deadline, the Detroit Free Press\u2019 Evan Petzold threw cold water on the possibility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Tigers operate as a file-and-trial club under president of baseball operations Scott Harris, which means there won\u2019t be further negotiations on a one-year contract after Thursday\u2019s 8 p.m. deadline to exchange salary figures,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/EvanPetzold\/status\/2009390905019781240?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">he wrote on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JeffPassan\/status\/2009443480263872519?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">ESPN\u2019s Jeff Passan reported<\/a> that Skubal filed at $32 million while the Tigers countered at $19 million \u2014 the biggest arbitration gap in league history.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38135008\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AP_ALDS_Tigers_Mariners_Baseball_87669-6c50f-0.jpg\" alt=\"A baseball player in a gray &quot;Detroit 29&quot; jersey, black cap, and black glove holds a baseball.\" class=\"wp-image-38135008\"  \/><br \/>\nDetroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) reacts after Seattle Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor hit a double during the second inning in Game 5 of baseball\u2019s American League Division Series Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, in Seattle.  AP<\/p>\n<p>Skubal could break the record $19.75 million mark set by David Price in 2015 as the highest-earning arbitration-eligible pitcher in MLB history.<\/p>\n<p>Skubal, entering his final year of team control before free agency, made $10 million last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The looming arbitration dispute adds to a long saga of contract drama between the team and Skubal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With the southpaw ace likely to test free agency in an attempt to sign the richest pitching contract ever, the Tigers have <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/12\/12\/sports\/tigers-likely-to-trade-tarik-skubal-in-potential-mlb-blockbuster\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">dangled Skubal on the trade market this winter<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Detroit appears likely to lose him on the open market next offseason after it was revealed in October that the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/16\/sports\/tigers-staring-down-250-million-gap-in-tarik-skubal-contract-talks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">two sides had a $250 million gap in contract talks<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Yankees checked in with the Tigers on Skubal, but got the impression that it would take \u201chalf the team\u201d to acquire him, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/08\/sports\/where-yankees-may-turn-for-pitching-after-missing-out-on-edward-cabrera\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Post\u2019s Jon Heyman reported  Thursday<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Skubal is coming off a ridiculous two-year run, going 31-10 with a 2.30 ERA across 62 starts.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s struck out 469 batters in 387 1\/3 innings over that stretch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tarik Skubal and the Tigers will head to arbitration.\u00a0 The two-time Cy Young winner did not come to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2386],"tags":[5,147,53,2583,4,37650,62,185,382,594],"class_list":{"0":"post-516390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-tigers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-tigers","11":"tag-detroittigers","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-mlb-hot-stove","14":"tag-new-york-yankees","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-tarik-skubal","17":"tag-tigers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115881003211394483","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}