Detroit Tigers Ace Projected to Sign Seven-Year, $188 Million Extension
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The Detroit Tigers are going to be faced with a tough decision soon, but they should find the answer somewhat simple.
Tarik Skubal is coming off of one of the best seasons a pitcher has had in recent memory, but is coming to the end of his team control years. He will be entering free agency after the 2026 campaign, unless the Tigers can get him to sign an extension.
CBS Sports' Mike Axisa recently put together a list of 10 players who could get extended in the coming weeks.
Skubal made the list at No. 9.
Along with predicting that a deal will be coming, Axisa put a potential price tag on it at seven years, $188 million.
The largest contract handed out in franchise history remains the one Detroit handed to Miguel Cabrera at eight years, $248 million. That is unlikely to be touched by Skubal, but the current projection would make him the team's highest-paid pitcher.
Currently holding the largest contract is future Hall of Fame pitcher Justin Verlander, who got a seven-year, $180 million deal back in 2013.
There would be little complaints to be had if Skubal had the seasons Verlander had following his extension, but ideally, Skubal would finish the contract out with the Tigers since the future Hall of Famer was traded to the Houston Astros towards the end of his deal.
A more contemporary comparison for the Skubal extension would be Aaron Nola's seven-year, $172 million deal he got last year from the Philadelphia Phillies. He is slightly older than Skubal, but it is still somewhat in the same range.
The APY on Skubal's deal would be him slighly below what Yoshinobu Yamamoto is getting from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
All in all, he would be getting paid money to be a top-10 starting pitcher for the better part of the next decade.
It is also exactly the type of deal the Tigers should be looking to give him.
Unless he's asking for historic money, there is no reason Detroit should not be the ones giving him a long-term contract.
They are a franchise that has shown the ability to spend in the past. Even if the Javier Baez nightmare deal is still on the books, they have enough young and cheap talent to hold them over until he's no longer with the team.
Letting a 28-year-old perennial Cy Young candidate walk out the door makes no sense when that would put him on the ideal timeline for how the Tigers are currently built.
Skubal entering his prime is the perfect pitcher to take the reins for the next generation of stars in Detroit.
