Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal celebrates striking out Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh in the sixth inning of ALDS Game 5 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Potential Suitors Named for Tarik Skubal Trade Should Have Tigers Fans Furious

Originally posted on Detroit Tigers on SI
By Michael Brauner | Last updated Oct 24, 2025 12:06 PM ET

Following a second straight likely American League Cy Young season for Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, the organization can no longer delay the inevitable. With only one more season of team control and extension talks seemingly falling apart due to a ocean-sized gap, the Tigers have a decision to make.

They can either keep Skubal for next year and take their chances in free agency -- likely meaning they lose him for nothing more than a draft pick in return -- or they can trade him this winter for what would be a giant haul.

While the list of contenders over the last week since the rumors have heated up includes the usual suspects, former MLB GM Jim Bowden of The Athletic (subscription required) broke the real suitors down, and it should bother fans greatly.

Tigers Will Talk to Big Market Teams on Skubal Trade

"It’s unlikely the Tigers go [to $400 million], and if that’s the case, they certainly can’t make the mistake of waiting until the trade deadline to deal him or letting him walk with minimal draft compensation next offseason," Bowden wrote. "Therefore...it’s likely they shop Skubal at the Winter Meetings and try to make the best trade they can with so many big market teams with deep farm systems obviously wanting him, such as the Mets, Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees and Giants."

While a deal to the Los Angeles Dodgers would be difficult to stomach -- especially potentially on the heels of two consecutive World Series titles -- it's safe to say that them or the New York Mets would be preferable to the other options Bowden spouted.

If Detroit were to send Skubal over to the Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees, it would be pretty tough for Chris Ilitch and Scott Harris to look fans in the eye and tell them the organization is serious about getting back to the World Series.

Why Would Tigers Allow American League Rivals to Get Stronger?

For significant portions of the 2025 season, the Tigers looked like the best team in the American League. While that proved to not be the case down the stretch, it seemed like they were going to have to go through the likes of the Red Sox and Yankees to reach the World Series.

As it turned out, it was the Seattle Mariners who eliminated Detroit and the Toronto Blue Jays who handled New York, but as each team tries to improve and take steps towards a pennant next year, the Tigers aiding that pursuit for teams they will have to compete against would be a disgrace.

Barring an offer from either team that absolutely blows Detroit away -- something that is not any more likely from an AL rival than an NL foe -- the Tigers cannot give Skubal to the Red Sox or Yankees and still convince their fans they are serious about winning right now.

Trading Skubal would already hurt severely, but seeing him in a uniform of an American League rival would be downright unforgivable.