{"id":600908,"date":"2026-03-02T02:50:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T02:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/600908\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T02:50:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T02:50:37","slug":"tigers-tarik-skubal-makes-decision-after-mlbs-big-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/600908\/","title":{"rendered":"Tigers’ Tarik Skubal Makes Decision After MLB’s Big Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Detroit Tigers<\/a> acted late in MLB<\/a> free agency, but they made a move that reshaped the entire outlook of the team for the upcoming season. The front office added left\u2011hander\u00a0Framber\u00a0Valdez in free agency to slot alongside reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal at the top of the starting rotation.<\/p>\n

That is huge because Detroit now has one of the best one\u2011two combinations in baseball, a duo capable of carrying the club deep into October rather than relying solely on Skubal. It also provides insurance as Skubal enters his final year under team control, with his long\u2011term future far from guaranteed.<\/p>\n

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The two sides could not agree on Skubal’s salary this offseason and went to arbitration, making it difficult to envision the front office committing the type of money\u00a0required\u00a0to keep him on a new deal.\u00a0Skubal will make $32 million this season<\/a> before becoming a free agent in 2027.<\/p>\n

\"Detroit<\/p>\n

Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (29).\u00a9 Junfu Han &sol; USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

(\u00a9 Junfu Han &sol; USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Even so,\u00a0it appears Skubal\u00a0will not be dealt anytime soon, and his focus in 2026 will be staying at the top of his game. The 29\u2011year\u2011old ace has a rare opportunity to cement his place in history by winning a third straight Cy Young Award, and he enters the year as the favorite.<\/p>\n

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But there will be one major change across MLB this season with the debut of the Automated Ball\u2011Strike Challenge System, which allows teams to challenge individual pitches. Only the batter, pitcher or catcher can challenge an\u00a0umpire\u2019s\u00a0call, and challenges must be made\u00a0immediately\u00a0by tapping a cap or helmet.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Skubal\u00a0announced his personal approach to the new system. According to ESPN\u2019s Buster Olney, Skubal said he\u00a0likely will\u00a0not challenge calls unless they are egregious and will leave the decision to his catchers.<\/p>\n

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Skubal is preparing for his seventh season in Detroit. His excellence continued last year as he made his second consecutive All\u2011Star team and finished top 10 in AL MVP voting, an impressive feat for a starting pitcher. Across 31 starts, he posted a career\u2011low 2.21 ERA, a 13\u20116 record and 241 strikeouts across 195\u00a01\/3\u00a0innings.<\/p>\n

Skubal now enters 2026 with the chance to deliver another elite season while leading a Tigers team built to contend in a wide\u2011open American League Central.<\/p>\n

Related: Tigers’ Javier Baez Sends Message After Unfortunate News<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Mar 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the MLB<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Detroit Tigers acted late in MLB free agency, but they made a move that reshaped the entire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2386],"tags":[5,6453,9288,147,53,2583,79,4,382,594],"class_list":["post-600908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-detroit-tigers","tag-baseball","tag-buster-olney","tag-cy-young-award","tag-detroit","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-detroittigers","tag-framber-valdez","tag-mlb","tag-tarik-skubal","tag-tigers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116157314132274029","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600908","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=600908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}