There’s something confusing about the current situation surrounding Tarik Skubal and the Detroit Tigers. On one hand, the back-to-back American League Cy Young Award winner has made it abundantly clear in recent interviews that he doesn’t want to be traded. During an appearance on Foul Territory, he directly addressed the swirling trade speculation with frustration, saying: It’s not like I want to be traded, so it’s kind of like why am I in these conversations? Yet, major league insiders, analysts, and even casual observers can’t seem to stop talking about potential Skubal trades, and some respected voices are actually arguing that now is the time for Detroit to deal their ace.
The contradiction isn’t really coming from Skubal. He’s been remarkably consistent in expressing his desire to remain a Tiger. He emphasized in the same interview that he wants to be with Detroit for a very long time, and when asked about the astronomical contract figures being thrown around, he dismissed them as fabrications: I don’t really know where they come up with these numbers. The real confusion stems from the strange economics of modern baseball, where a player can simultaneously want to stay with their team while that team faces genuine pressure to consider trading him away. For Skubal, the Tigers, and the baseball world, it’s a situation that vaguely mirrors one of the most famous fire sales in recent memory — when the Chicago Cubs dismantled their 2016 championship core just five years after ending a 108-year World Series drought.
The Cubs comparison is instructive because it reveals how quickly a franchise’s perspective can shift from championship window to rebuilding mode. After winning it all in 2016 with a core led by Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Javier Báez, the Cubs seemed positioned for dynasty-level success. Those players weren’t heading toward free agency immediately. Many fans and analysts believed Chicago had built something that could compete for titles for years to come. Yet the Cubs never quite reached those heights again, making the postseason only three more times before 2021 without returning to the World Series. By 2021, with the team struggling and those core players approaching free agency, the Cubs made the difficult decision to trade them away. In a span of 24 hours during the trade deadline that July, the Cubs shipped Bryant to the Giants, Rizzo to the Yankees, and Báez to the Mets. It was a stunning dismantling of a championship team, but from a financial standpoint, it made sense for an organization that couldn’t afford to pay those players what they’d command as free agents.
The Tigers find themselves facing a version of this same dilemma with Skubal, though with one crucial difference — Skubal actually wants to stay. The 28-year-old has only one year remaining on his contract before hitting free agency, and preliminary discussions about an extension haven’t come to fruition, primarily because of money. Skubal and his agent Scott Boras are expecting a deal that exceeds Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s record $325 million contract with the Dodgers. There’s even speculation that Skubal could become baseball’s first $400 million pitcher. For a franchise with a payroll of just $163.5 million in 2025, matching those numbers is essentially impossible. This is where the real tension lies: Detroit wants to keep their ace, Skubal wants to stay in Detroit, but the financial gap between them might be insurmountable.
So why is everyone talking about trading him? The market forces are undeniable. If the Tigers let Skubal reach free agency without signing him long-term, another franchise with deeper pockets will almost certainly sign him away. Some MLB insiders are arguing that Detroit should maximize their return now, before the 2026 season, rather than risk him leaving for nothing in free agency or having to trade him at the deadline when they might actually be contending. ESPN’s Buster Olney has suggested that if the Tigers intend to move Skubal for value before he departs as a free agent, the best time to do it is now. The logic is simple: trading him at the deadline next summer, when Detroit might actually be competitive in the AL Central, would be torture. How do you ask an ace to pack his bags mid-season when you’re in a pennant race?
Here’s the thing, folks: The Tarik Skubal situation is stickier that the Cubs situation was during the 2020-21 offseason and at the 2021 trade deadline because there’s actually potential for the Tigers to be competitive in 2026. Detroit made the playoffs in consecutive seasons behind Skubal’s excellence, and the organization is clearly trying to build something real. For Skubal, the whole affair has got to feel surreal. He’s finally proven himself as one of baseball’s elite arms, he’s won back-to-back Cy Youngs, and he’s publicly stated his preference to remain in Detroit. Yet the machinery of baseball economics keeps churning around him, suggesting his stay might not matter in the end.
With that.. The Tigers still have hope, when the Cubs really didn’t, and Skubal hasn’t requested a move. The confusion stems from a simple economic reality. Hope and affordability don’t always align in professional sports. The Tigers’ front office knows they can’t keep Skubal long-term, which raises the question of whether they should move him now for maximum return, preserve him for 2026 and risk losing him to free agency, or find some creative middle ground with an extension they might not think they can afford. For fans in Detroit, it’s a uniquely uncomfortable position to watch unfold — knowing that you have an ace who actually wants to be there, yet facing the real possibility that financial constraints might force his departure anyway.
If you cannot play with them, then root for them!