MLB Insider Sounds Off on Tarik Skubal Trade Rumors amid Buzz After All-Star Game

There is at least some doubt within Major League Baseball that the Detroit Tigers will deal ace starting pitcher Tarik Skubal before the Aug. 3 deadline.

Speaking to ESPN's Buster Olney, an anonymous MLB official suggested that the Tigers may not move Skubal unless the team falls apart coming out of the All-Star break.

"They went in big on this year, making the decision to keep Skubal, and then they signed Framber [Valdez]," the official said. "They're making up ground on the leaders—and now they might trade [Skubal]? I don't see it, unless they lose a bunch of games [coming out of the All-Star break]."

The Tigers entered the All-Star break on a strong run of play, winning nine out of their 12 games going into the Midsummer Classic.

With that, Detroit is now 44-52, putting it 6.5 games behind the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians for first place in the American League Central, and 3.5 games behind the Seattle Mariners for the final AL wild-card spot.

If the Tigers are going to make a run to the playoffs and then have a chance to do some damage upon getting there, Skubal would likely be a huge part of the equation.

The 29-year-old lefty won back-to-back Cy Young Awards in 2024 and 2025, won the AL ERA title both years and won the AL pitching Triple Crown in 2024.

A procedure to remove loose bodies from his pitching elbow cost him over a month of action this season, but he has continued his dominance when healthy, going 5-5 with a 3.09 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 89 strikeouts over 75.2 innings pitched.

Skubal is in the final year of his contract, and if the Tigers do not trade him, they risk losing him for nothing in free agency.

It could prove worthwhile if the Tigers make it to the playoffs, but if they don't, they would get nothing in return for perhaps their best trade asset and have nothing to show for it beyond that.

Fellow MLB executives who Olney spoke with believe Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris will be "objective" in his analysis of the team and trade Skubal if he doesn't believe they can make the playoffs.

However, with the expanded playoffs and so many teams still having a realistic shot at postseason baseball, it could make evaluating the Tigers' chances a far more difficult task than it might have been in the past.