Tigers GM Once Again Dodges Question About Potential Tarik Skubal Trade
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The Detroit Tigers enter the offseason with one massive looming question hanging over them, and it's one to where all of baseball is going to be paying attention.
Entering the final year of left-handed ace Tarik Skubal under team control and contract talks to this point essentially going nowhere, many insiders have openly wondered whether or not the repeat American League Cy Young winner is on the trading block.
On Wednesday at the GM meetings, Detroit general manager Jeff Greenberg did not do anything to quell the rumors and once again a representative from the organization essentially avoided the question on Skubal during an interview with Jon Morosi of the MLB Network.
Tigers Won't Say if Skubal is Available Or Not
"It's pretty obvious what he means to this organization..."
— MLB Now (@MLBNow) November 12, 2025
Tigers GM Jeff Greenberg joins @jonmorosi to talk about the rumors surrounding a potential Tarik Skubal trade.
MLB Network + @SageUSAmerica pic.twitter.com/tvDa0k52bJ
"We love Tarik obviously, it's pretty obvious what he means to this organization," Greenberg said when asked if they could consider it. "He's a Detroit Tiger, we're never gonna talk about our players in the context of trades, but we're lucky to have him...it's just not something we're gonna discuss in this context and I would say that about any of our players. He's got one year of control, that's part of the process as it is for everybody in this system but he's a Tiger and we're fortunate to have him and that's the reality right now."
It has to be no surprise for Greenberg that he was going to be asked about Skubal before anything else, but it certainly did not seem like they had a better answer prepared than declining to comment.
Though this coy strategy makes sense for an average player, a franchise player the quality of Skubal who has meant so much to the team and now won the most prestigious honor a pitcher can receive for two straight years if different.
If Skubal truly was not available and Detroit wasn't at the very least entertaining offers, they would say it.
Tigers Clearly Are Willing to Deal Skubal for Right Price
Though it maybe can be argued it would be bad business to declare Skubal is not available under any circumstances, if Detroit was not willing to at least even entertain the possibility, saying it would make sense.
The hope from fans is that extension talks are still happening, even though that has seemed like a fruitless endeavor to this point and likely is not changing anytime soon.
Recent reporting has indicated that the Tigers are most likely to keep Skubal this offseason unless they were to be blown away by an offer. Clearly, reading between the lines of what Greenberg had to say, that offer has not come in yet.
What Detroit does if and when it does though could serve to define the next decade plus of baseball in the Motor City. To this point, it seems the Tigers will have their ace stay put, but as the offseason keeps rolling, who knows whether or not things could change.
Greenberg certainly did not close the door completely to that looming scary possibility.
Michael Brauner is a 2022 graduate of the University of Alabama with a degree in Sports Media. He covers various MLB teams across the On SI network and you can also find his work on Yellowhammer News covering the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers as well as on the radio producing and co-hosting 'The Opening Kickoff' every weekday morning on 105.5 WNSP FM in Mobile, Alabama.