Tarik Skubal Set to become a free agent next winter, the chances of an extension between the star left-hander and the Tigers appear slim to none. As Skubal told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Tigers have not discussed a long-term contract with the left-hander this winter.
“There are no offers“Skubal said on the team now.There will be no offers until the end of the season… .I’m focused on playing baseball and winning this year. We will wait and see after we deal with the contract issues at the end of the year. And that’s okay. it’s their decision.”
Additionally, there has been no discussion of a one-year contract that would cover Skubal’s 2026 salary after he asked for $32 million in the final year of salary arbitration. This lack of conversation was expected, as the Tigers stick to the “file and trial” tactic employed by most every big league team. If an agreement isn’t reached before the submission deadline, teams often stop all negotiations with a player unless the subject matter is a multi-year contract (or a workaround for a one-year deal with a mutual option for next season).
Considering Skubal’s $32 million salary was intended to set a new precedent for star pitchers (and perhaps all players) in their final year of arbitration eligibility, finding a middle ground between the Tigers and Skubal in this particular situation would have been impossible anyway. Detroit submitted a $19 million bid, and the arbitration panel ruled in Skubal’s favor in a very important victory for him, his agent Scott Boras and the MLB Players Union.
When it comes to the larger issue of a longer extension, it would not be surprising to see a lack of new talks between the two sides. Very few Boras clients ultimately choose an extension rather than testing free agency, and even fewer Boras clients sign an extension when they are close to the open market. Assuming Skubal stays healthy and has another season similar to his performance in 2024-25, he is expected to command another precedent-setting free agent contract that would make him the highest-paid pitcher in baseball history.
Given the circumstances, the Tigers certainly won’t get any kind of hometown discount in extension talks and would have had to pay a premium to convince Skubal to waive free agency. Faced with this reality, the Tigers may have deemed further negotiations on a long-term contract somewhat pointless if the club is not prepared to pay a price tag that will likely be well over $350 million for Skubal.
The Tigers offered Skubal an extension last winter, and Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reported in October that the offer was a four-year deal worth just under $100 million that covers the 2025-28 seasons (Skubal’s final two years of arbitration eligibility and his first two years of free agency). For context, Skubal has gone nearly 11 months between MLB starts due to flexor tendon surgery that sidelined him for parts of the 2022 and 2023 seasons, so the Tigers may have thought Skubal might lose their financial security due to a serious injury. But considering that Skubal looked great after returning in 2023 and won the AL Cy Young Award in 2024, Detroit’s offer seemed embarrassingly low in terms of amount and length.
All signs seem to point to 2026 being Skubal’s final season with Motown, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there are any hard feelings between player and team. It’s possible that both sides recognize the reality of the situation and (as Skubal hinted) plan to spend the year working toward a common goal: a World Series championship. There was speculation that the Tigers were considering signing Skubal this offseason, but Detroit’s high asking price and the simple fact that it’s easier to get to the World Series when you have the best pitcher in baseball on the roster made that scenario never seem likely.
that Framber Valdez The deal means the Tigers are preparing their rotation after Skubal, but Valdez’s $115 million free agent contract is only for three years and includes an opt-out after 2027. Skubal and Valdez headline what appears to be a very solid rotation. jack flaherty, Casey MizeAnd the Tigers legend Justin Verlander I returned to the Motor City to complete the unfinished business of winning a ring in a Tigers uniform.
