The Tigers were the best team in the American League for a few months. They had a quiet deadline and narrowly avoided what would've been a historic collapse. While winning the Wild Card series and pushing the Mariners to the brink in the Division Series kept this from being a complete disaster, they unquestionably lost momentum in the second half. They're now facing a couple free agent departures and questions about the future for the sport's best pitcher.
Guaranteed Contracts
- Javier Báez, SS: $48MM through 2027
- Jack Flaherty, RHP: $20MM player option for 2026
- Colt Keith, 3B: $20.642MM through 2029 (including buyout of '30 club option; deal also includes club options for 2031-32)
Option Decisions
- RHP Jack Flaherty holds $20MM player option
- Team, RHP Paul Sewald hold $10MM mutual option ($1MM buyout)
- Team holds $4MM option on RHP José Urquidy
Additional Financial Commitments
- Owe $1MM buyout to outrighted RHP Randy Dobnak
- Owe $500K buyout to released RHP John Brebbia
2026 guaranteed contracts: $30.5MM or $50.5MM depending on Flaherty's option decision
Total future commitments: $71.142MM or $91.142MM through 2029 depending on Flaherty
Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projected salaries courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)
- Tanner Rainey (5.167): $1.6MM
- Tarik Skubal (5.114): $17.8MM
- Casey Mize (5.111): $5.4MM
- Jake Rogers (5.040): $2.9MM
- Will Vest (4.100): $3.3MM
- Zach McKinstry (4.099): $3.5MM
- Matt Vierling (4.026): $3.1MM
- Jason Foley (3.150): $3.15MM
- Alex Lange (3.145): $900K
- Andy Ibañez (3.133): $1.8MM
- Riley Greene (3.110): $6.6MM
- Spencer Torkelson (3.076): $5.1MM
- Kerry Carpenter (3.057): $3.5MM
- Beau Brieske (3.056): $1.3MM
- Tyler Holton (3.047): $1.7MM
Non-tender candidates: Rainey, Vierling, Foley, Lange, Ibañez, Brieske
Free Agents
- Jack Flaherty (if he opts out), Gleyber Torres, Kyle Finnegan, Tommy Kahnle, Rafael Montero, Chris Paddack, Paul Sewald, Alex Cobb
It took just a few days after the Tigers were eliminated for speculation to begin about Tarik Skubal. He's a few weeks from his second Cy Young award and now a year away from free agency. Jon Heyman of The New York Post has already suggested Skubal could seek a $400MM contract. Heyman reported that was at least $250MM above what the Tigers were willing to offer during extension talks last winter. Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free-Press subsequently reported that Detroit had offered a four-year deal between $80MM and $100MM.
That was a noncompetitive proposal when Skubal was two years from the open market. His asking price has only climbed after another dominant season that moved him a year closer to free agency. It's not accurate to say that they're facing a $300MM gap -- the Tigers would obviously be willing to offer more than that now -- but it doesn't exactly point to them being likely to hammer out a long-term deal. That naturally leads to wishcasting from other teams (and their fanbases) about the possibility of pulling off a blockbuster trade.
There hasn't been any reporting that the Tigers intend to seriously hear teams out on Skubal, much less actively shop him. The rumors to date have been driven by a few recent instances of contending clubs trading a superstar before his final season of arbitration. The Mookie Betts trade was a disaster for the Red Sox. The Padres did quite well when they traded Juan Soto to the Yankees, winning 90+ games in each of the following two seasons. The Brewers got a solid but not overwhelming return for Corbin Burnes and have remained one of the NL's best teams over the past couple years. The Astros landed a strong three-player package for Kyle Tucker but narrowly missed the playoffs in year one.
The Tigers have made consecutive playoff appearances after a nine-year drought. The front office has already come under fire for a deadline where they deepened the pitching staff in bulk without parting with any significant prospects for an impact acquisition (aside from arguably Kyle Finnegan). They already have a top-tier farm system and could enter the offseason with as little as $30.5MM in guaranteed contracts. They can easily accommodate a projected $17.8MM arbitration salary for Skubal.
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C Dingler and Rogers
1B Tork
2B Max Anderson/ McKinstry
SS Baez/ Trei Cruz
3B Keith
LF Greene
CF Trent Grisham/ Parker Meadows
RF Wenceel Perez
DH Carpenter
Starters: Skubal, Mize, Framber Valdez, Olson, Melton
Bullpen: Ryan Helsley, Vest, Alex Vesia, Holton, Hurter, Hanifee, Dylan Smith
Alex Vesia will not be a free agent this winter.
Is Colt Keith’s glove passable at 3B? His best position was always hitter and he spent a lot of time at DH this year.
Yes, he is passable at 3B. He was kind of blocked at 2B by Torres and at 1B by Tork. Keith just turned 24. He improved his game in 2025 by drawing a ton more walks.
Keith should be at 2B, unless he learns to catch pop ups at 3B. Shorter throws and he never had the pop up problem in the middle infield..
Starters: Olson, Mize, Sawyer Gibson Long, Keider Montero, Tyler Holton,
At least 2 more starters obtained in trade(s) and free agent signing(s)
Skubal is in rotation if he is not traded.
Skubal is more likely than not to be traded.
It is Scherzer 2.0 (Boras as agent).
If one of the teams with an absolutely loaded farm system offers a truckload of talent that could be a franchise changing trade for the next 5-10 years, then they Tigers very likely will have to take that deal rather than just settle for a draft pick for Skubal.
Wake up and smell the coffee.
There is a 75% chance that Skubal is traded.
If a trade is going to happen, then it would be better for all parties concerned for it to happen by the end of Spring Training 2026.
The Tigers would get a much better return of players if Skubal pitches the entire 2026 season for a his new club.
Tigers could use a young CF who can hit very well, a solid 2 way SS or 3B. and more pitching.
Tigers could also use 2 major league ready,, young highly rated starting pitchers plus some other promising players.
Tigers aren’t trading Skubal. Not this winter. Not at the deadline. They’ve got him for one more season and the possibility of winning a WS with the best pitcher in the league is far more valuable than any prospect they could get for him.
Just spitballing here but the team is pretty much all under contract for the next few years with 2 top 10 prospects coming.
I’d love to see Skubal extend and stay in Detroit but if you could get something like McLean, Sproat, and Carson Benge that would give you a ton of talent and extend that contention window. I think they probably keep him but if something crazy is thrown out there—it’d have to be considered.
They need to trade Skubal. His injury history is not worth the 400 million dollar future investment nor the value of a comp pick when he leaves after next season. Big market teams will compete against one another to come up with the best trad package, thus benefiting the Tigers long term. They have a vast amount of top position player prospects on the cusp of becoming big leaguers. They need to flip Skubal for some young solid pitching prospects with a hitter attached to it. (Dodgers will give up Sheehan and Sasaki and a hitting prospect)
I doubt the Dodgers would trade Sasaki.
They might for Skubal. Sasaki’s been great as a reliever in the postseason but Skubal is the 2nd best pitcher in baseball and they have the resources to sign him to a fat extension.
Skubal is great, but the Dodgers have made a commitment to Sasaki’s enormous potential and have him at a team-friendly price. There’s no reason to trade him for one year of Skubal. As it line’s up for 2026, Snell, Yamamoto, Glasnow, Ohtani, Sheehan, and Sasaki is plenty of startring pitching (with Gavin Stone and River Ryan returning from injuries). If the Dodgers splurge, it would probably be for an outfielder.
Mets fandom is rife with speculation about trading top prospects for Skubal.
Makes all the sense in the world that speculation is happening. Cohen has the cash to pay Skubal & the Mets have the pieces for a deal to make Detroit think about it.
He’d probably need to step over Stearns to make that happen but I can understand speculation.
Wait until the dust settles after the work stoppage.
Skubal will be motivated to sign before the lockout in case a salary cap enters the picture (or some other impediment like losing more draft picks for signing high $$ free agents).