Tarik Skubal Trade Reportedly Eyed by Mets, Tigers' Potential Asking Price Revealed

The New York Mets reportedly are eyeing one of the best arms in baseball, who could be on the trade block this offseason.

Per The Athletic's Will Sammon, the Mets "are expected to get involved" in trade discussions surrounding Detroit Tigers star ace Tarik Skubal. Sammon also noted that the Tigers "may look to ask for two top-level starting pitchers and a position player prospect" in return for Skubal.

The reported interest from the Mets comes after reports of a massive gap in contract talks between the Tigers and Skubal. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported this week that the gap is "close to $250 million."

Heyman noted Detroit made an offer to Skubal in 2024 that was "well less than" Garrett Crochet's $170 million deal from the Boston Red Sox last offseason. Skubal is hoping for a new deal worth $400 million, according to Heyman, which would be the highest total contract value for a full-time starting pitcher.

After winning his first AL Cy Young Award in 2024, Skubal was once again outstanding this year. The 28-year-old ranked second in ERA (2.21), second in strikeouts (241) and led the majors in WHIP (0.89) while compiling a 13-6 record.

In three postseason outings, he notched a 1.74 ERA, 0.68 WHIP and 36 strikeouts across 20.2 innings.

Skubal will almost certainly win his second AL Cy Young Award this year, which would make him the first Tigers pitcher to win the award in back-to-back seasons and just the second Detroit pitcher to win it twice.

Given his success early in his career, the question for Skubal is not whether he will get a possibly record-breaking contract, but who that deal will be with. Obviously, the Tigers would like to keep him on their staff, but if they can't get any closer in negotiations, plenty of teams will be ready to make a trade offer, including the Mets.