Why the Tarik Skubal Trade Talk Just Won’t Go Away - And Why It Still Makes No Sense
Tarik Skubal trade rumors are everywhere right now - you can’t scroll through baseball Twitter (or X, or whatever we’re calling it this week) without seeing a dozen mock deals involving the Detroit Tigers’ ace. But here’s the thing: the Tigers don’t have to trade him. And frankly, they probably shouldn’t.
Skubal is coming off back-to-back Cy Young Awards. That’s not just elite - that’s franchise-altering.
Players like that don’t grow on trees, and they certainly don’t get moved unless there’s a very compelling reason. And unless Detroit’s front office is quietly planning a full-scale teardown - which there’s zero indication of - there’s every reason to believe they’ll be trying to contend in 2026.
If that’s the case, then keeping Skubal right where he is should be priority number one.
Now, the contract situation is a cloud hanging over all of this. Skubal is a Scott Boras client, which often means extensions aren’t easy to come by.
As long as there’s no long-term deal in place, the trade chatter will continue. That’s just how this works.
But that doesn’t mean the Tigers should flinch. Trading Skubal - especially now - makes you worse in the short term, and that’s a tough sell for a team that finally looks ready to turn the corner.
Most of the mock trades floating around are, frankly, not worth the pixels they’re printed on. They usually involve another team coughing up a pile of top prospects - which, to be fair, is the kind of return Skubal would demand - but even then, Detroit’s rotation in 2026 wouldn’t come close to what it is now with Skubal at the top.
Prospects are great, but they’re not Cy Young winners. Not yet, anyway.
That’s why a recent proposal from MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince caught so much attention. It was, admittedly, a wild one - a three-team blockbuster involving the Tigers, Pirates, and Mets. In it, Skubal would land in New York, Paul Skenes would head to Detroit, and Pittsburgh would walk away with a haul of prospects, including Jett Williams, Jonah Tong, and Jacob Reimer from the Mets, plus Max Clark and Bryce Rainer from the Tigers.
Yeah, it’s out there. Castrovince himself called it “ludicrous,” and made it clear it was more of a thought experiment than a legitimate prediction.
But here’s the twist: Tigers fans didn’t hate it. In fact, some kind of liked it.
Because if Detroit had to trade Skubal - and again, that’s a big if - Skenes is probably the only player out there who could make the return feel remotely fair. It’s Cy Young for Cy Young, with Skenes being younger and under team control for longer.
That’s the kind of swap that, while unlikely, at least doesn’t feel like a step backward.
Of course, the odds of the Pirates actually trading Skenes are about as slim as Detroit willingly parting with Skubal. But the fact that this deal even exists in the baseball universe - even as a hypothetical - speaks volumes.
It’s the first trade idea that doesn’t feel like a gut punch for Tigers fans. That’s saying something.
At the end of the day, this all comes back to one central truth: the Tigers have something special in Tarik Skubal. He’s not just their ace - he’s one of the best pitchers in the game.
You don’t move on from that unless you’re absolutely forced to. And right now, Detroit doesn’t look like a team that’s ready to wave the white flag.
Quite the opposite.
So let the trade rumors swirl. Let the mock deals fly. Until something real happens - and there’s no sign that it will - Skubal remains the centerpiece of a Tigers team that’s finally starting to believe in itself again.