The Detroit Tigers are in a very complicated situation with the MLB trade deadline a week away.
The Tigers are considering a very unusual move at the trade deadline that would essentially involve them buying and selling at the same time. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, rival executives think the Tigers would prefer to trade Tarik Skubal, but acquire some other pieces while attempting to convince fans and players that they are not giving up on the season.
Skubal is set to become a free agent at the end of the season, and the back-to-back AL Cy Young winner is seen as unlikely to return to Detroit. The Tigers are very wary of letting him leave for nothing, but at 50-56, they are in a murky spot in the playoff race.
The other problem for the Tigers is it would be very hard to sell the notion of contending after trading Skubal. No matter how much sense it makes in the years to come, trading him now would make them unquestionably worse in 2026. The Milwaukee Brewers tried to pull this sort of move with Josh Hader in 2022, but it went down terribly and they wound up missing the playoffs.
The Tigers lost on Sunday to fall to 50-56. They are still only 3.5 games out of a Wild Card spot in the underwhelming American League, but it’s fair to question whether this team should go all-in for 2026.
