The Detroit Tigers and ace Tarik Skubal appear to be headed for arbitration.
The two sides didn't reach an agreement on Skubal's 2026 contract before Thursday's deadline to exchange figures, so an arbitration hearing has been scheduled.
Negotiations can continue up until the hearing, but as things stand, there is no deal in place.
MLB.com's Mark Feinsand reported that Skubal filed for $32 million, and that the Tigers filed at $19 million.
Skubal, who is coming off a second straight Cy Young-winning season, was projected to make $17.8 million in arbitration this winter by MLB Trade Rumors.
However, as ESPN's Jeff Passan wrote Thursday, there was, and still is, the potential for Skubal to break some records with these negotiations.
The highest arbitration salary — $19.75 million — for a pitcher was given to David Price in 2015, and the largest raise given in arbitration — $9.6 million — belongs to Jacob deGrom in 2019. Both are figures that Skubal has the chance to surpass in his final season before hitting free agency.
Passan also cited a "rarely used provision" for players with more than five years of service time to compare themselves to anyone in baseball, meaning Skubal could take his accomplishments of the past two years and point to some of the top-earning pitchers in MLB to make the case that he deserves a similar salary in 2026.
Skubal is coming off a pair of dominant seasons that have him positioned as arguably the best starting pitcher in the game. In 2024, he won the American League Triple Crown, pacing the circuit with 18 wins, a 2.39 ERA and 228 strikeouts.
He was potentially even better in 2025, punching out 241 batters in a career-high 195.1 innings of 2.21-ERA ball.
The Tigers are a "file-and-trial team," meaning they generally won't discuss a deal beyond the deadline to exchange figures. But teams can always make exceptions, and there may be no better case to do so than Skubal's.
