Tarik Skubal trade: Five MLB teams that could pull off a deal for the Tigers ace

One of the big questions of Major League Baseball’s offseason is whether or not left-hander Tarik Skubal will be part of the Detroit Tigers on Opening Day 2026. 

Skubal, 29 come next week, just won his second consecutive American League Cy Young Award. He seems like a realistic threat to become the first pitcher to win three in a row since Greg Maddux in the ’90s. After all, Skubal has started 62 times over the last two seasons and has notched a 2.30 ERA (180 ERA+) and a 6.90 strikeout-to-walk ratio. His contributions have been worth around 13 Wins Above Replacement, per Baseball Reference’s estimates.

Yet Skubal is about to enter his walk year, and the Tigers haven’t sounded optimistic about keeping him for the long haul.

“We’re in 2025 right now,” owner Chris Ilitch said in October when asked about Skubal’s free agency. “We’re just going to focus on the playoffs and really just focus on the game in front of us.”

Inspiring, right? CBS Sports recently laid out the three possible pathways forward for the Tigers with Skubal — an extension, a trade, or punting on a decision until next summer — noting that a trade was the least desirable of the bunch. Here’s part of what we wrote at the time:

In addition to weakening Detroit’s short-term competitive ceiling, it would be an optical nightmare. Are there teams out there with enough young talent to tempt the Tigers? Sure. But running an organization isn’t as easy as throwing names into the MLB Trade Values algorithm.

This being the offseason, we figured it might be worth flipping the scenario on its axis. If the Tigers do entertain trading Skubal, just which teams are best positioned to land him? Below, we’ve highlighted five particular clubs, arranged in perceived over of having the best possible package to offer. Bear in mind that there are more than five suitors for Skubal and that this exercise isn’t a prediction of a trade or a guess at the package the Tigers might fetch in return.

Ranking top 25 MLB trade candidates: Players who could be moved before 2026 season and potential landing spots

Mike Axisa

The Dodgers adding yet another frontline starter hardly seems fair — this is the same club that just won back-to-back World Series by leveraging a rotation built around Blake Snell, Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Tyler Glasnow. At the same time, there’s no justification for omitting them from this exercise given how much sense they make as a trading partner for the Tigers. 

The Dodgers have the competitive aspirations; they have the financial might to keep him around for the long haul; and they have the young talent to make the Tigers an overwhelming offer. It doesn’t hurt either that top executive Andrew Friedman has shown a willingness to “lose” a trade from a surplus value perspective if it means winning another World Series championship.

“If you expect to win a deal from a value standpoint in July, you’re not going to make deals,” Friedman once said. “We made plenty of offers that were definitely underwater from a value standpoint but felt good about making because of the team that we have.”

Granted, this is November, not July, but the sentiment remains.

The Dodgers have one of, if not the best farm systems in the majors, led by promising outfielders Josue De Paula, Zyhir Hope, Eduardo Quintero, and Mike Sirota. They also have the ability to move big league-ready players, like catcher Dalton Rushing or infielder Alex Freeland, who lack clean fits in Los Angeles but could slot into another team’s starting lineup without issue. 

The one thing the Dodgers lack is a burning need for Skubal. That sounds silly — Skubal is on the short list for best pitcher in the world — but the Dodgers have those aforementioned arms, plus Emmet Sheehan and Roki Sasaki, and a slew of other young or rehabbing starters (River Ryan and Gavin Stone among them). The Dodgers will probably give chase anyway — again, this is Tarik Skubal — but they might be the only team who can declare they don’t need him.

The Mets check off many of the same boxes as the Dodgers. They have added motivation after failing to make the playoffs, on top of the young talent to get a deal done and the financial resources to keep Skubal around beyond his free-agent date.

Executive David Stearns reportedly made a strong run at landing lefty Garrett Crochet last winter, though the Chicago White Sox ultimately favored the deal they received from the Boston Red Sox. Stearns instead rebuilt his rotation with a series of free-agent signings — including Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas — but it stands to reason he would be willing to pursue Skubal the way he did Crochet.

If that is the case, some names to know in the Mets system include outfielders Carson Benge and Jett Williams, right-handers Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat, and infielders Jacob Reimer and Mitch Voit.

The Mariners landing Skubal would make for some easy copy — remember, he played collegiately at Seattle University. They certainly have the incentive (following a loss in the ALCS) and the means to land him in a trade. It’s fair to question if they would be as willing to fork over the money he would require to sign for the long haul.

The Mariners did pull off the Luis Castillo trade and extension a few years back. Of course, what Castillo netted ($108 million guaranteed) is a far cry from the kind of numbers that Skubal’s camp is likely to demand next winter. 

The Mariners have done well to load up on young positional talent, be it catcher Harry Ford; infielders Cole Young, Colt Emerson, Michael Arroyo, or Felnin Celesten; or outfielders Lazaro Montes or Jonny Farmelo. Seattle has also emerged as one of the savviest organizations in the sport at pitching development. Predictably, the Mariners have plenty of flowering arms to spare: No. 3 pick Kade Anderson, switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje, and right-hander Ryan Sloan included.

Something to keep in mind: it’s at least possible that the Mariners’ ability to foster pitchers makes them less likely to pony up for an established hurler.

4. Boston Red Sox

As noted above, the Red Sox have already traded for one former AL Central-based lefty in the last year, landing Garrett Crochet as part of a blockbuster deal in December. Pairing Crochet and Skubal would give Boston the best one-two punch in the American League. 

The Red Sox have the potential to make some intriguing proposals to the Tigers. If they wanted to, they could fold a package of young players around a big-leaguer like first baseman Triston Casas or outfielder Wilyer Abreu, clearing up a logjam of their own in the process. 

The Red Sox also have the means to include another young, big-league ready hitter — Kristian Campbell, Marcelo Mayer, or even Ceddanne Rafaela — and/or an interesting arm (think Payton Tolle, Brandon Clarke, Kyson Witherspoon, or Connelly Early). That’s without mentioning infielder Franklin Arias, arguably the best player in the system.

On the one hand, top executive Mike Elias isn’t prone to using a lot of resources on his pitching staff. On the other, Elias is less than two years removed from trading for Corbin Burnes under somewhat similar circumstances. Ultimately, the Orioles’ involvement on Skubal might be dictated by how willing some of the other teams on this list are to abstain from chasing him until his free agency.

The Orioles don’t have the same strength of farm system they did a couple years ago, but that’s to be expected now that they’ve graduated several notable players to the majors and have moved down the draft pecking order. They did, however, replenish their farm system to an extent at the deadline and they continue to have more interesting positional players than spots, with Enrique Bradfield Jr. and Ike Irish (among others) on the way. 

That’s without factoring in someone like right-hander Esteban Mejia, who sent his stock soaring this summer in his first action outside of the complex league.