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 knows what he wants.
The rest is up to the Detroit Tigers.
Skubal – the first pitcher to win back-to-back American League Cy Young Awards in the 21st century – wants to build a long-term legacy in Detroit. For that to happen, the Tigers will need to extend his contract beyond the 2026 season.
“Contract extension stuff is a little bit different, but the trade stuff is out of my control,” Skubal said Wednesday, Nov. 12, less than an hour after being named the 2025 AL Cy Young winner. “I’ve given everything I have to this organization. I want to be a Tiger for a very long time.”
Skubal, who turns 29 before Thanksgiving, isn’t set to reach free agency until next offseason, but his status has become one of the biggest talking points in the industry this offseason – and not because anyone expects a contract extension.
Everyone wants to know whether the Tigers will trade him.
“A lot of that is out of my control,” Skubal said, “especially the trade stuff.”
The Tigers have declined to offer clarity about his future.
“Look, Tarik is a Tiger,” general manager Jeff Greenberg said Wednesday at the general manager 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.”
In 2025, Skubal posted a 2.21 ERA with 33 walks and 241 strikeouts across 195⅓ innings in 31 starts, running away from Boston Red Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet (second place) and Houston Astros right-hander Hunter Brown (third place) to capture the Cy Young.
It’s the latest chapter in a run of dominance that has spanned nearly three years.
Since July 4, 2023, when he returned from flexor tendon surgery in his left elbow, Skubal has produced a 2.25 ERA with a 4.4% walk rate and 32% strikeout rate in 45 starts. His 9.8 fWAR during that stretch ranks first among all pitchers.
That’s why Skubal – represented by agent Scott Boras – projects to become the first full-time pitcher in MLB history to command a $400 million contract in free agency. (Not including Shohei Ohtani, who does two-way duty as a pitcher and designated hitter.)
The Tigers already tried and failed to sign Skubal to a contract extension after the 2024 season. Now, Boras is waiting for a more competitive offer following the 2025 season, with one year until free agency.
“Those things, the business part of the game, they’re just different,” Skubal said. “I don’t get to write my own contracts in that sense. I’m just going to do what I do and not really focus on any of that stuff.”
Skubal has seen his name surface in trade rumors three times during his six-year MLB career: the 2022 trade deadline, the 2024 trade deadline and now the 2025-26 offseason.
The Tigers have never come close to trading him.
“It’s not going to impact how I go about my day to day,” Skubal said. “It’s not going to impact how I’m going to attack my offseason and try to become the best version of myself come spring training next year. It’s not in my control at the end of the day.”
For now, Skubal – lined up to receive nearly $20 million in his final year of salary arbitration – plans to report Feb. 11 to TigerTown in Lakeland, Florida, when pitchers and catchers arrive for spring training.
He wants to stay with the Tigers.
“I love the city of Detroit,” Skubal said. “Hopefully, I’m here. I think that’s where I’m at with all that.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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