Each time Tarik Skubal takes the mound, he drives up the cost of his next contract. The Tigers' ace is raising the bar a year after he won the American League Cy Young and Pitching Triple Crown. And he's slated to hit free agency after next season.
The Tigers would love to lock him up before then. Skubal would love to stay: he's expressed his desire to pitch in Detroit for the duration of his career. But it's not as simple as it might sound, especially with Skubal represented by an agent in Scott Boras who prefers to take his clients to the open market.
Skubal's future is the most important item on the agenda of Scott Harris. It's the biggest negotiation of his tenure as Tigers president of baseball ops, and will go down as one of the biggest of his career. Asked what he'd say to fans who want Skubal signed to an extension ASAP, "I'd say, I’m watching him pitch, too, and I love watching him pitch," Harris said Wednesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "And I’m really proud that he’s a Tiger right now."
"Sometimes it sounds a lot easier to just lock him up and sign extensions and just get it done because you feel like it. It’s a lot harder than that," Harris said.
Skubal has been the best pitcher in baseball for nearly two years running, while the Tigers are the best team in baseball this season. Trading him isn't an option in a year where the World Series could be theirs. Take your pick of the stats. Since making his season debut in 2023 on the Fourth of July following flexor tendon surgery, Skubal leads the majors in ERA, strikeouts, wins and WHIP. He's 28 years old, turning 29 in November, without much mileage on his left-handed arm.
Phillies ace Zach Wheeler, the second best pitcher in baseball over the aforementioned stretch, signed a three-year extension entering his age-34 season last March that reset the pitching market at $42 million per year. Given his age and increasingly impressive track record, Skubal can and should reset it again.
The Tigers could try to negotiate a slightly lower annual salary for Skubal by doling out more term, but it's hard to imagine Skubal commanding anything less than $40 million per year. A five-year, $200 million offer might be the mere starting point in negotiations, especially if Skubal foregoes free agency. A 10-year, $400 million ask isn't out of the question.
In a recent appearance on The Show podcast, Harris told longtime MLB writer Joel Sherman of the New York Post, "We can't just decide we're going to sign him. It takes two parties and some understanding of the parameters of a deal, and it takes a willingness on both sides to actually do it."
Asked Wednesday if the Tigers have encountered any resistance from Skubal's camp on a potential extension, Harris said, "Listen, I’m just not going to talk about it. I totally understand the question, it’s a fair question, it’s just really not fair in this case to Tarik or his representation to talk about any sort of resistance or offers and counters."
"It’s both not fair to them and it’s not going to help us reach a deal," he said.
Harris pointed out that the Tigers "have taken a very intentional and targeted approach" to following through on the goal he stated at his introductory press conference "to acquire, develop and retain young talent." He cited the extension they awarded Colt Keith last offseason before he'd played a game in the majors that can be worth up to $82 million over nine years.
"We’re really proud of that deal," Harris said. "But the one thing we’re not going to do is talk about negotiations before we’ve reached a deal. It’s not fair to the player, it’s not fair to the organization, and it’s not fair to the entire industry to float out offers or counters or any of that stuff. These things are really hard to get done.
"We’re working as hard as we can to keep what we think is a really good group around as long as we can, because these guys have done special things at this level and we think they’re still really young, they’re still really talented and they’re going to keep better."