Tigers’ Failure to Reach Salary Agreement with Tarik Skubal Leaves MLB Fans Furious: “Lowballing the Best Pitcher in Baseball

While Tarik Skubal asked for a $32 million salary, the Detroit Tigers countered with a $19 million offer, thus leaving a $13 million gap between the two parties.

Tigers’ Failure to Reach Salary Agreement with Tarik Skubal Leaves MLB Fans Furious: “Lowballing the Best Pitcher in Baseball

Tarik Skubal (Image via Marca)

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Tarik Skubal and the Detroit Tigers seem to be far apart at the moment. Ahead of the arbitration deadline, the AL Central side was able to come to agreements with 7 of its 8 players. The one player they did not reach an agreement with was Skubal.

Before the deadline, the player and the team submitted their offers. Skubal, the 2-time Cy Young Award winner, asked for a salary of $32 million. The Tigers, on the other hand, countered it with an offer of $19 million for the 2026 season.

There is now a $13 million difference between the two parties, leading to an arbitration hearing. This $13 million gap is the largest in salary-arbitration history.

They could avoid this panel hearing by coming together and discussing another number and settling on it.

Last year, the two teams reached a $10.1 million agreement and avoided arbitration. The hearing this year is set to take place from January 26 to February 13 in Scottsdale, Arizona,

If he wins the case, he would break the record for the largest one-year deal for an arbitration-eligible player. In 2024, Juan Soto set the record after settling for a $31 million salary with the New York Yankees.

David Price currently holds the record for the largest one-year deal for an arbitration-eligible pitcher at $19.75 million, which he reached with the Tigers in 2015.

Meanwhile, Jacob DeGrom received the biggest raise for an arbitration-eligible pitcher when his $7.4 million salary jumped to $17 million ($9.6 million rise) with the New York Mets in 2019.

Social media reacts to Tigers and Tarik Skubal failing to reach an agreement

Tarik Skubal and the Detroit Tigers failed to reach an agreement regarding his salary for the 2026 season. Fans on social media would lose it after hearing this.

Tarik Skubal
Tarik Skubal (Image via X/@MLBNetwork)

Users on X would attack the Detroit-based side for this. Many urged that Skubal should be paid a higher amount, given the performances he has put up for the team. One user wrote, “lowballing the best pitcher in baseball” while reacting to this development and called the team “pathetic” on X.

Check out that and some other reactions from fans on X below:

After winning the Cy Young Award in 2024, Skubal continued his dominance in 2025. The southpaw went 13-6 and pitched with a 2.21 ERA and picked up 241 strikeouts.

He would end up receiving 26 first-place votes and claimed his 2nd Cy Young Award. He thus became the first pitcher since Jacob DeGrom in 2018-2019 to repeat as Cy Young Award winner.

Tigers’ failing to reach salary agreement with Tarik Skubal generates more trade buzz

As Tarik Skubal enters the final year of his club control, there have been several rumors linking him away from the Detroit Tigers through a trade move. With the team failing to reach a salary agreement for the upcoming season, more trade buzz has been generated.

Tarik Skubal
Tarik Skubal (Image via X/@JustBB_Media)

As per reports from Jon Heyman, the New York Yankees checked in on Skubal. The Bronx Bombers are looking for starting pitchers and trying to land someone through a trade move.

However, as per Heyman, the team later got the impression that it would take half of their team in a trade package to bring Skubal to New York.

Previous reports claimed that the Tigers and Skubal were $250 million apart in negotiations over a contract extension. The pitcher would later express his intention of staying with the team for a very long time.

The 29-year-old’s next contract is expected to be around $400 million. This could become the biggest contract offered to any pitcher in the MLB by total value package. At the moment, the record for this belongs to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who signed a 12-year, $325 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers in late 2023.

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