Tigers Ace Tarik Skubal May Be Trying to Force Trade After Huge Arbitration Ask
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The Detroit Tigers entered the offseason with one giant question looming over them as they attempted to navigate improvement for 2026 and beyond.
While things have slowed down a bit in this department, it's been a long offseason of trade rumors between Detroit and repeat American League Cy Young ace Tarik Skubal. It's felt for these last couple weeks that the window had passed and Skubal would be on the team this season, however things may have changed last week.
Skubal and the Tigers are preparing to go into a historic and contentious arbitration hearing after the left-hander filed at $32 million and the team at just $19 million, the largest gap in the history of the process.
During a Monday episode of Foul Territory, one of baseball's most prominent insiders in Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic postulated whether or not Skubal's huge number request was actually an attempt to force Detroit to trade him.
Tigers Hand May Be Forced by Skubal According to Rosenthal
"If the Tigers are going to end up paying $32 million to Tarik Skubal, are they more inclined to trade him?" Rosenthal asked. "Tarik Skubal might have asked for $32 million trying to force the issue with them...Skubal has been pretty adamant about wanting to stay in Detroit, but at the same time here, he sent a serious message to the Tigers about what he thinks he is worth."
Skubal clearly showed he was not happy with a post on his Instagram that went viral in the wake of the news of the huge gap being reported, so perhaps he was a bit caught off guard that Detroit was this far off from what he was seeking.
Free agency value and arbitration value are two very different figures, the Tigers will argue, but they still very likely may lose the hearing. Rosenthal is correct in saying the idea of paying Skubal $32 million for one season could be enough to make ownership uncomfortable.
Would it be enough however for Detroit to actually pull the trigger on a trade?
Tigers May Reconsider Trade of Skubal if Hearing is Lost
As has been the case throughout the offseason, the most likely outcome remains Detroit holding onto Skubal and the southpaw being the team's Opening Day starter in the 2026 season. Beyond that is anyone's guess, but a trade has always felt far fetched.
If the Tigers needed one final last second reason to consider sending him away before the season though, it's a $32 million salary which would make Chris Ilitch's head spin just at the thought of.
Detroit could win the hearing and get a huge value on Skubal -- something which would actually make him an even hotter commodity on the market -- but it would likely set a negative tone between them and their ace and potentially assure the fact that this is his final year in the Motor City.
Clearly, Skubal and his camp are rightfully trying to push the Tigers for what he has earned. Whether or not they choose to make it happen seems to be entirely up to them.
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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.