The trade rumors surrounding Detroit Tigers starter Tarik Skubal have been persistent all offseason, and when Detroit signed Framber Valdez to a three-year extension, that only furthered the case that Skubal might actually be traded. He’s set to become a free agent after the 2026 season and will likely earn the largest contract in MLB history for a pitcher. However, talks between Skubal and the Tigers seem to be disconnected in terms of value.
This was the case when Skubal won his arbitration case over Detroit, but there was a $15 million+ disparity in what Skubal demanded and what the Tigers wanted to pay him in 2026.
Recently, on Ben Verlander’s Flippin’ Bats podcast, Skubal sent a message about the trade rumors surrounding him.
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What Did Tarik Skubal Say About Recent Trade Rumors?
GettyPotential trade target Tarik Skubal
Per the Flippin’ Bats podcast with Ben Verlander, Tarik Skubal had this to say about the constant talks of him potentially being traded:
“I want to make sure I word this right ’cause I don’t want to get taken out of context, you know,” Skubal said. “It’s not that I was worried about getting traded ’cause obviously that’s out of my control, but it’s one of those things you can’t really worry about it. And I don’t want that to sound like I didn’t want to be a Detroit Tiger. That’s not what I want that to sound like. I want it to sound like it’s out of my control, so I can’t really stress about it. You know, it does me no good to have it impact my offseason workouts or have it impact my day-to-day life. It’s just something I can’t focus on.”
Skubal did keep the mood light as well, and is clearly a good sport about the whole thing:
“But you know, sure, it crept into my mind,” he added. “I’ve seen a lot of stuff, whether it be true or I don’t know what was reported or how factual a lot of that stuff was. But yeah, I mean I saw it, I definitely saw it. As far as it impacting me, try to not. You know, I think I spent a lot of time answering questions from family like, ‘Hey, are you going to get traded?”
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Will Tarik Skubal Be Traded?
This is the, quite literally, million-dollar question. If the Tigers do not plan on extending Skubal, he will almost certainly be departing Detroit via free agency, so a reasonable thing to do is to trade him before it gets to that point, so the Tigers can maximize his trade value while he’s on the team.
However, Detroit is clearly in a mode where they want to win now, and obviously shipping Skubal, who is a back-to-back CY Young winner, would be a huge blow to the pitching staff and team overall.
Last season, Detroit relied so heavily on Skubal to pick up wins down the stretch when they were in full free fall in the AL Central, so his importance can not be understated.
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