The Tigers and Tarik Skubal can come to a contract agreement before the 2026 season ends. Or they could trade him. He will be a free agent after 2026.

The noncompetitive 2024 offer resurfaced after the New York Post reported Tarik Skubal and the Detroit Tigers are $250 million apart in negotiations.

The Tigers, to their credit, have resisted trading Skubal before. At the 2024 deadline, before their late-season run to the playoffs, they told interested clubs they were going to hold onto Skubal based on their belief they could compete before his team control expired. And so they have.

The Detroit Tigers can't avoid the Tarik Skubal decision any longer as his clock ticks toward free agency. There are three options and no easy answer.

1. Detroit has not won the World Series since 1984. No singular Tiger is more valuable to end that than Skubal. Detroit has made the past two playoffs with a decent roster and one great player. Skubal has a 2.04 ERA in six postseason starts while the Tigers basically have tried to run away from any other starter in October in 2024-25.

Plenty of teams have dealt their stars before losing them in free agency. But if Scott Harris believes in himself, he should believe in Detroit Tigers.

There is no denying that Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal is one of the two best pitchers in all of baseball. That does mean, though, that it'll be a bit pricey to lock down Skubal and keep him in Detroit for the long haul. The earliest of reports have signaled that the sides are alarmingly far apart on an extension.

Tigers linked to $7.75 million former Cy Young candidate; would finally give Tarik Skubal the 1-2 punch he deserves originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.