Tarik Skubal and the Detroit Tigers apparently aren’t even in the same area code right now.
Skubal and the Tigers currently have a gap of close to $250 million in contract talks, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported on Thursday. Heyman notes that the baseline ask for Skubal is seen as $400 million (though there is reportedly no belief that Skubal has named his price at this point).
The 28-year-old righty Skubal is seen as the consensus best pitcher in the American League right now (with best-pitcher-in-baseball debates boiling down to how you rate Skubal against Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes). Skubal won the AL Cy Young Award in 2024 (as well the pitching Triple Crown) and is considered a virtual lock to win the AL Cy Young Award again this year.
This season for the Tigers, Skubal went 13-6 with an AL-leading 2.21 ERA, an MLB-leading 0.89 WHIP, and a career-high 241 strikeouts. He was the ace of a Detroit team that won 87 games (which was their highest total in over a decade).
But Skubal is facing plenty of uncertainty right now as he is only under contract with the Tigers for one more season (set to make $22.5 million in 2026). That gives Detroit only three options — pony up to extend him, trade him away with one year left on his contract, or risk losing him for nothing (other than a compensatory draft pick) after the 2026 season.
As it stands right now, MLB’s highest paid pure pitcher by average annual value is Philadelphia’s Zack Wheeler (making $42 million per year), and it is Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers by total contract value ($325 million). A contract of $400 million over nine years for Skubal would beat both records. But it doesn’t sound like the Tigers are anywhere close to offering that right now (potentially opening the door for one of three reported big-market suitors to swoop in for Skubal).
