We like our sports to be simplistic.
Sign this guy. Get rid of that guy.
However, it doesn’t always work that way. For example, Tigers’ pitcher Tarik Skubal. It’s complicated.
On one hand, he is the toast of this town. His performance last Sunday, stopping a three-game losing skid by the first-place Tigers to the second-place Guardians, was a jewel. The classic “Maddux” was the first ever with as many as Skubal’s 13 strikeouts, and was dotted with a 102.6 mph fastball to close it, setting off all its aesthetics.
On the other hand, well, how long will Skubal be here? He is eligible for free agency following the 2026 season.
Baseball is the ultimate game of statistics, and for Skubal these statistics are sensational. Since returning from injury for the second half of the 2023 season, Skubal has a 2.51 ERA with 422 strikeouts in 341 innings. His record during that span is 30-9, his WHIP 0.90 and the Tigers have won 64 percent of his starts.
The technical data is equally august. He measures as “great” in virtually every Baseball Savant category in 2025, including averaging 97.7 mph with his four-seam fastball. It ranks in the top-six percentile. His spin rate has ticked up, as well.
Skubal has a deceptive delivery. His changeup is a particularly nasty pitch because of its shape, bearing in on right-handed hitters before fading as it nears the plate. He is also the personification of a respected athlete. He is humble, hard-working, tough, no-nonsense, focused and resilient. No pitcher commands the mound better in today’s game
Once a projected Top-50 pick, Skubal plummeted down draft boards because of Tommy John surgery while at Seattle University. The Tigers drafted him in the ninth round, 255th overall in 2018. His signing bonus: $350,000. Skubal is just the seventh ninth-round pick of the Tigers to reach MLB since the draft began in 1965, and the first since 1997.
He overcame another difficult arm injury in 2023 before his glorious emergence into stardom. In a town that has experienced great pitching from Mickey Lolich, Denny McLain and Mark Fidrych in the deep past, and Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer in a more recent era, Skubal is the latest of the elite.
Yet, investing in him as a genuine Detroit sports hero comes with trepidation. Much of the discussion about Skubal on social media and sports talk radio isn’t about his brilliance, but whether he is going to sign with the Tigers long-term. Seldom, if ever, has there been so much talk desiring the trade of a premier Detroit athlete for something as vague as a “boatload” of prospects.
Adding to the angst is understanding his agent, Scott Boras, has a reputation for not playing his hand early. His clients typically go deep into the free agent process. The latest example was third baseman Alex Bregman. As such, it would be outside the box for the Tigers and Skubal to reach an extension before he reaches free agency.
The Tigers made Bregman the best offer in regard to total dollars, but somehow he still ended up in Boston. And, please, stop with the nonsense it was because of spacious Comerica Park. Bregman, before going on the injured list with a quad injury, hit two home runs in a three-game set in Detroit.
It’s difficult to get a pulse on exactly what type of relationship the Tigers currently have with Boras, but the organization fumed when a report in the Free Press suggested they had made Skubal “a non-competitive offer.”
There was a time when the influence of Boras on the Tigers was peculiarly impactful. When Prince Fielder was a free agent and drawing limited interest as a one-dimensional player, the Tigers’ baseball operations leaders were not interested. They let it be known, too. Then, all of a sudden, the Tigers signed Fielder to a $214 million contract that made little sense considering the club was forced to move defensively-challenged Miguel Cabrera to third base to make room for Fielder at first.
At the news conference introducing the signing, Boras sat next to late owner Mike Ilitch and spoke at length. This is what Ilitch said about Boras: “He knows more about my team than I do.”
The looks on the faces of future Hall of Fame general manager Dave Dombrowski and Hall of Fame manager Jim Leyland as Ilitch spoke were notably sheepish. Boras used a similar bypass technique with Ilitch to get the Tigers to sign aging outfielder Johnny Damon when their baseball operations executives had no interest.
But that changed with Scherzer. The Tigers offered him six years and $144 million. Tired of his club essentially bidding against itself, Ilitch drew a line in the sand. The Tigers released an unprecedented statement late in spring training saying they were moving on. Scherzer had a year left on his contract at the time. He didn’t sign a free agent contract until the following January with Washington.
It was reported at $210 million for seven years, but was tricked up with deferred payments and a signing bonus making it appear bigger than its actuality in comparison to the Tigers’ deal of on-time money that was turned down. Obviously, Scherzer, who is still on the Nats’ payroll at $15 million per year through 2028, benefitted competitively, but not like the smoke and mirrors that were presented financially.
Boras’ relationship with the Tigers seemingly hasn’t been the same since. He was very praiseworthy of Ilitch upon his death, but the franchise hasn’t exactly been his go-to team lately. Nick Castellanos switched to Boras with the hope he’d get a huge contract late during his stint with the Tigers, but was traded instead. He has a five-year $100 million contract with the Phillies, but has left Boras and is representing himself.
Starting pitchers don’t throw deep into games anymore. Last year, when Skubal pitched 192 innings, it was just 13.2 percent of the Tigers’ total. He is on pace this season for 197. There are four starting pitchers with contracts worth more than $200 million over the entire term: Japanese star Yoshinobu Yamamoto ($325 million) of the Dodgers, Gerrit Cole ($324 million) and Max Fried ($218 million) of the Yankees and Corbin Burnes ($200 million) of the Diamondbacks. That’s compared to 21 position players.
The rub comes from starting pitching increasing in importance during the postseason.
There must be a sweet spot for Skubal in Detroit. He placed a heartfelt ad in a newspaper this year expressing his appreciation for the fans, and they certainly want him to stay. Of course, the Tigers have to do their part and pay up, but it would be foolish to do so to the point of absurdity. If Scott Harris is truly building the Tigers into a top-flight franchise, they will thrive even if they lose the best starting pitcher in baseball.
But it is on Skubal, too. It’s too easy to blame his agent. Boras has been highly-successful for most of his clients with these tactics, despite a few embarrassments in recent years. He is arguably the most impactful sports agent of all time and perhaps belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Nobody is expecting a low-ball number, but there is a point when enough is enough. That’s where Skubal has to make a decision, not his agent, one way or another.
The fans of this town deserve better than being held hostage by a system that is not fair to their loyalty and emotional investment.