Tarik Skubal is as integral to the success of the Detroit Tigers as perhaps any athlete in professional sports, not just MLB, is to their team. The southpaw ace is weeks away from officially having back-to-back American League Cy Young Awards, which have non-coincidentally come in tandem with two straight postseason appearances for the Motor City Kitties. And yet, Tigers fans are rightly on pins and needles regarding the lefty as he's set to enter the final year before free agency in the 2026 season with no extension in sight. The latest report only makes a new deal feel further away, too, though we always have to consider the source.
Even though the Tigers seem at least somewhat motivated to make efforts to retain Skubal, the lefty's agent, the infamous Scott Boras, is always highly unlikely to do that given that he wants his clients to hit the open market in free agency. As we inch closer to that, the possibility of trading Skubal has been brought to the forefront, and now it seems like Boras is only pushing harder for either that or to prove that Detroit isn't in the right ballpark dollar-wise right now.
Case in point, New York Post insider Jon Heyman, who infamously has been called a Boras mouthpiece in the past, reported on the situation with the salacious selling point that was immediately widespread that the Tigers and Skubal were $200+ or nearly $250 million apart based on their best offer to date.
Unfortunately, in this push-pull that doesn't seem like it'll end soon with Skubal, that report is lacking some absolutely vital context that was seemingly conveniently left out.
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Tarik Skubal report of $250 million gap bafflingly lacks context
Yes, based on the information that Heyman is reporting when it comes to Skubal and Detroit, the dollar figures are $200-250 million apart. According to his sources, the best offer from the Tigers came before the season when they put $170 million on the table, which was obviously not accepted. Now, the belief throughout the league is that Skubal's next contract will be worth roughly $400 million.
That is, undeniably, a chasm between the two sides. However, what it doesn't take into account is the obvious about the situation.
While Skubal turned down $170 million before the 2025 season, his market value also rocketed even higher after another Cy Young campaign. The Tigers might not have reached the number that Skubal and Boras were looking for in the late winter or early spring, but they were much closer to the market value at the time than they are to the current market value. It's not like they offered him the $170 million deal yesterday! Even Scott Harris and this Detroit front office aren't that foolish.
Given that the reality of the situation is left out in favor of making the $250 million gap sound even more drastic, it feels calculated on the part of Boras to portray it such as that. And while that's unfair to the Tigers and, ultimately, perhaps not even the reality of how much money Detroit would now be willing to put on the table, it also doesn't paint a pretty picture for the franchise.
Unfortunately, none of the context means Tarik Skubal stays with the Tigers
The particulars around Skubal might be lacking from Heyman's report, but the meat of his article actually gets to the heart of the situation when it comes to the Tigers and quite realistically. After all, this is Boras's world that we're living in, and Heyman painted it as a "tough choice" that lies ahead for Harris and the Detroit front office.
"Do they trade Skubal at a time they’re likely to get 50 cents on the dollar? Soto and Mookie Betts were rare superstars traded heading into their walk years, and though Soto brought an OK return, the return on Betts was negligible. Do they keep Skubal until free agency? Or do they make another long-shot run at signing him?
"Few major stars sign in walk years (Vlad Guerrero Jr. being a notable exception). And presumably few ever bridge a $250M gap."
And you'd also add that even fewer major stars represented by Boras sign in their walk year or before testing the market, if we're being honest. However, the rock and a hard place that the Tigers are stuck between does paint somewhat of a bleak picture.
While Detroit has shown an increased willingness to spend in recent offseasons, playing in the $400 million contract sandbox is still something they haven't quite done to this point. With how much Skubal means to the organization, perhaps that changes, but it's not a guarantee. Thus, maybe trading him to avoid losing him for nothing would be worthwhile, even if the return would be short on guaranteed value.
At the same time, this is still a window for the Tigers as long as Skubal is on the bump every fifth day for them. In the end, trading him isn't the right move. The right move is making one more run with the ace on the hill, spending to make the roster even better around him, and then trying their hand in free agency, even if that might be a futile effort. Trading a player of his caliber, even with the looming threat of losing him, would be unforgivable in the eyes of Tigers fans and, to the one salient point made be Heyman, might not even be worth it in the long run anyway.