Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, represented by agent Scott Boras, hits free agency after the 2026 season.
What is Tarik Skubal's contract situation with the Detroit Tigers?
Will the Tigers sign Skubal to a contract extension?
When is Skubal a free agent?
What is Scott Harris, the Tigers' president of baseball operations, saying about Skubal's future in Detroit?
There are lots of questions surrounding Skubal and his future with the Tigers. Some have answers, others are far more blurry.
Skubal, currently 28, is scheduled to become a free agent for the first time after the 2026 season, meaning the Tigers have him for two potential playoff runs in 2025 and 2026. Nothing beyond that is guaranteed.
Skubal was named the 2024 American League Cy Young Award winner after leading the AL in wins, ERA and strikeouts, and he's the favorite to repeat as Cy Young winner with two months remaining this season.
Here's what we know about Skubal's contract situation with the Tigers as of Aug. 1, 2025.
Tarik Skubal contract and salary
Skubal and the Tigers agreed to a one-year, $10.15 million contract for the 2025 season on Jan. 9, avoiding arbitration. He has one more year of arbitration, becoming a free agent after the 2026 MLB season.
Will Tarik Skubal sign contract extension with Detroit Tigers?
Skubal is a free agent after the 2026 season. The Tigers are not expected to sign Skubal to a long-term contract extension before his current deal is up.
Who is Tarik Skubal's agent?
Skubal's agent is Scott Boras, one of baseball's most powerful agents. He is known for taking his clients to free agency and getting them the most money, including waiting out the winter talks and bringing unsigned players into February. (That's what happened last year, for example, with third baseman Alex Bregman, who flirted with the Tigers and several other teams before signing a three-year deal, with opt-outs, with the Boston Red Sox.)
Boras represents other Tigers, including right-hander Jackson Jobe and first baseman Spencer Torkelson.
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Tarik Skubal contract value in free agency
- Skubal could become the first pitcher ever to secure a $400 million contract. He projects to earn $35-40 million per year over 8-10 years on the open market barring injury. "If everything goes right, he will get $400 million in free agency in two years," a National League talent evaluator told the Free Press after the 2024 season. "It's almost impossible to sign him to an extension now because who knows where that market is going to be in two years," USA TODAY MLB columnist Bob Nightengale said Dec. 12 on the Free Press' "Days of Roar" podcast. "$300 million could be light."
- Gerrit Cole signed with the New York Yankees for $324 million over nine years in December 2019 after his age-28 season. He makes $36 million per year.
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto owns the record for pitchers with $325 million over 12 years from the Los Angeles Dodgers in December 2023, signing before his age-25 season for $27.1 million per year.
- The annual value record for a pitcher (excluding Shohei Ohtani) belongs to Max Scherzer at $43.3 million, when he signed in Novmeber 2021 at age 37 for three years, $130 million with the New York Mets.
Tarik Skubal age
Skubal will turn 30 years old on Nov. 20, 2026, just as he enters free agency for the first time.
Tarik Skubal injury history
Skubal hasn't had any health issues since returning from flexor tendon surgery on July 4, 2023.
- Aug. 17, 2022: Skubal underwent flexor tendon surgery in his left elbow.
- 2016: Skubal underwent Tommy John surgery at Seattle University and missed the entire 2017 season.
What has Scott Harris said about Tarik Skubal's contract?
Harris, the Tigers' president of baseball operations, has maintained he won't talk future contracts until or if they are announced. "I'm not going to comment on individuals," Harris said Oct. 14, after the Tigers were knocked out of the 2024 postseason.
What has Tarik Skubal said about his contract
- June 2025: Skubal visited the "Pardon My Take" studio in Chicago, where one of the hosts offered a hypothetical contract offer of 10 years and $425 million. "That sounds good," Skubal said, before jokingly allowing the hosts to negotiate the contract for him.
- Jan. 19, 2025: "I'll keep that pretty private," Skubal said when asked about contract negotiations while attending a Michigan State basketball game in East Lansing.
- Oct. 23, 2024: "I love playing here," Skubal said on the New York Post's podcast with Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman. "The coaches, the teammates, the guys that we got in the clubhouse, it's a ton of fun. The fanbase, they've always been great to me and my family. As far as extension stuff, that's why I have an agent. I'll let him handle all that stuff, and however the front office goes about it, I'll be able to make a decision with the most information I got. That's all I really got to say about it."
Tarik Skubal draft
Skubal was picked in the ninth round of the 2018 MLB Draft with the No. 255 overall pick out of Seattle University. Skubal was an unheralded prospect coming out of high school in Kingman, Arizona, with just one Division I offer.
Reporting from Free Press sports writer Evan Petzold contributed to this story.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tarik Skubal contract talks with Tigers: Free agency looms
Category: Baseball
