Tigers Ace Tarik Skubal Expected to Remain With Team This Offseason, Per Insider

The Detroit Tigers would have to be blown away by an offer to move Tarik Skubal now.

Oct 10, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) throws against the Seattle Mariners during the third inning during game five of the ALDS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at T-Mobile Park. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

The Detroit Tigers enter the offseason as one of main topics of conversation across the baseball world, and not just because they're an exciting young team hoping to take the next step.

What the Tigers are going to do with Tarik Skubal has implications beyond just their own franchise. Trading him would be one of the biggest deals for a pitcher in the history of the sport, and for as much as it would enrage fans, there's also an argument to be made about why it should happen.

Despite the potential upside of a deal and the fact that Skubal is likely to walk after the 2026 season, one of baseball's most prominent insiders believes a trade won't happen. In a Monday article breaking down the biggest questions of the winter, Bob Nightengale of USA Today shared his belief that the left-hander is staying put in Detroit.

Tigers Won't Trade Skubal Now, Nightengale Says

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"No," Nightengale said when answering the big question of whether the team will trade Skubal. "The Tigers will at least listen on Skubal, but would have to be completely overwhelmed. Considering that teams know that he won't sign an extension and plans to hit free agency in a year commanding the biggest deal or a pitcher in history, no one will dare up give up more than two top-10 prospects. The Tigers are expected to hang onto him until at least the July 2026 trade deadline."

The nugget about the trade deadline in particular is interesting, because electing to keep him this winter only to deal him at the deadline would dramatically reduce the return. However, if the Tigers aren't at that point in time, then moving him would make sense.

If Nightengale is correct with his prediction that Detroit would get back an underwhelming return for their ace, then trading Skubal would not only be foolish, but it would be downright inexcusable.

Projected Return Does Not Justify Tigers Trading Skubal

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The reality -- which has been proven over the last two seasons -- is that this team powered by Skubal is a legitimate contender in the American League. Given Nightengale's assertion that the soon-to-be repeat American League Cy Young Winner would not command a king's ransom, trading him does not make forfeiting a year of contention worth it.

Instead, the Tigers should try to go all in with some high AAV, short-term contracts to put themselves in the best possible position to capitalize on what may be a limited Skubal window. It would go against the way they have built the team, but the talent of Skubal should be the rare exception.

It seems both sides have accepted that an extension simply is not going to happen, but the desire to win and win big is still very much real from Skubal and the franchise. Though the team is likely not going to pay their ace the $400 million he will command on the open market, they still have him for now and should try to take advantage.

Unfortunately for fans, the story of potentially trading Skubal is not going anywhere. But for now, it doesn't seem like it's going to happen.