The Detroit Tigers have long been expected to move Tarik Skubal between now and the MLB trade deadline. He’s slated to hit free agency after the season, and the Tigers probably won’t be re-signing him.
Skubal is widely viewed as one of the very top pitchers in baseball, and he’s a Scott Boras client. That isn’t exactly a great recipe for a mid-market ballclub like Detroit.
So, with the Tigers being below .500 with the deadline approaching, it makes sense to trade him now and get what you can for him, right?
Well, evidently, Detroit is not ready to throw in the towel just yet.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today released a new update on Tigers trade talks Sunday morning, and it doesn’t exactly sound like Skubal will be on the move.
“The Tigers are asking for a late-inning reliever in trade talks, believing that it’s essential if they are going to make a deep run in October,” Nightengale wrote.
That doesn’t exactly sound like a team that is trying to trade its best player. It sounds more like a ballclub that genuinely feels it can make a playoff run.
Heading into Sunday’s action, the Tigers sat at 50-55. As amazing as it sounds, they are still very much alive in the American League playoff race, which probably speaks more to how poor the AL is rather than anything Detroit has done.
But with the Tigers still “in it,” they may ultimately decide to retain Skubal past Aug. 3 with the hope that they can make a serious postseason push.
Skubal himself recently said that he would prefer to stay in the Motor City through the deadline because he feels the Tigers can make a run. Remember: they did do it during the second half in 2024.
But just how realistic is it this time around? Plus, circumstances are a bit different.
Should Detroit miss the playoffs (and in all likelihood, it will), it would mean that it just lost Skubal for nothing, as the chances of the Tigers re-signing him are slim to none.
Skubal has logged a 2.70 ERA over 15 starts this season. He missed some time after undergoing a procedure for an elbow cleanout earlier in the year.
