“The Tigers want to trade Tarik Skubal”

There are only six days left until the MLB trade deadline. Time is therefore running out for teams, which need to finalize their plans for the coming days.

Who will buy? Who will sell? And most importantly, who will be available?

And of course, Tarik Skubal is the name everyone is watching most closely. The Tigers' ace and two-time Cy Young Award winner has come back strong since his elbow surgery… but his team isn't winning enough to stay in the thick of the race.

So the question is: what will the Tigers do with their ace pitcher, who will become a free agent at the end of the season? And Jeff Passan, on his podcast, shared what he's been hearing from executives across Major League Baseball:

The Tigers want to trade Tarik Skubal.

Jeff Passan

The Tigers—given that they likely won't be willing to pay to keep Skubal in town beyond 2026—might have had a case for keeping the pitcher through the end of the season if they'd had a better record. But that's not the case… and the team, in reality, has the resources to weather Skubal's departure.

Losing one of the best pitchers in the sport wouldn't be ideal, let's be clear. That said, Jackson Jobe will soon be back in action… and with Framber Valdez and Troy Melton already in the rotation, the team has options.

But obviously, the Tigers aren't going to trade him just for the sake of trading him. We should expect the team to be demanding (and rightly so), but it's reasonable to think that some teams will be willing to pay the price.

Both Passan and Ken Rosenthal have mentioned the Rays, the Brewers, the Braves, and the Dodgers as teams to watch. Note that Passan also mentioned the Phillies, while Rosenthal mentioned the Yankees.

The Tigers could, for example, use Skubal to acquire offensive reinforcements while also bringing in a pitcher capable of contributing by the end of the season. This could be a good compromise for a team that has talent on the mound but struggles to score runs.

But of course, for a GM, trading a player of Skubal's caliber is never an easy task. Scott Harris can't afford to mess this up if he trades his franchise player: let's see how he handles the situation in the coming days.

Created by humans, assisted by AI.