Tarik Skubal on track for ‘recording-setting contract’ in free agency
USA TODAY Sports MLB columnist and insider Bob Nightengale breaks down the hefty pay day Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal could demand in free agency.
The Detroit Tigers agreed to terms with all nine of their arbitration eligible players.
Their salaries are locked in for the 2025 season.
Seven players signed one-year contracts before MLB’s deadline Thursday to avoid arbitration: left-hander Tarik Skubal, right-handed reliever Jason Foley, outfielder Matt Vierling, catcher Jake Rogers, right-hander Casey Mize, right-handed reliever Will Vest and right-handed reliever Beau Brieske.
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The Tigers already agreed to terms in late November with two additional arbitration eligible players: infielder/outfielder Zach McKinstry at $1.65 million and infielder Andy Ibáñez at $1.4 million.
Teams and arbitration-eligible players were required agree to salary figures by 1 p.m. Thursday. For those who didn’t reach an agreement, there was another deadline at 8 p.m. Thursday to exchange salary figures in preparation for an arbitration hearing to be scheduled within the next month. During the hearing, a panel of arbitrators selects either the team’s proposed salary or the player’s proposed salary.
The Tigers, under president of baseball operations Scott Harris, operate as a “file-and-trial” club, which means there would have been no further negotiations on one-year contracts after Thursday’s salary-exchange deadline.
However, the Tigers and their players will avoid arbitration hearings altogether in 2025, as all parties agreed to terms, extending the Tigers’ streak without an arbitration hearing to six years.
The most notable news from Thursday’s deadline: Skubal — the 2024 American League Cy Young winner who previously turned down a contract extension offer — settled with the Tigers at a $10.15 million salary for 2025, earning a $7.5 million raise from his $2.65 million salary in 2024.
Skubal, 28, will be eligible for salary arbitration for the third and final time after the 2025 season. He is scheduled to become a free agent after the 2026 season.
Aside from Skubal’s raise, Rogers settled at $2.64 million — up from $1.7 million last year — in his second year of arbitration and Mize settled at $2.34 million — up from $830,000 last season — in his second year of arbitration. Both Rogers and Mize, like Skubal, are set to reach free agency after the 2026 campaign.
The other six eligible players are in their first year of salary arbitration: Foley at $3.15 million, Vierling at $3.005 million, McKinstry at $1.65 million, Vest at $1.4 million, Ibáñez at $1.4 million and Brieske at $1.025 million.
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Players must have at least three years of service time — or qualify for Super Two status — to be eligible for salary arbitration, then players become free agents after six years of service time. Therefore, most players are arbitration-eligible for a total of three years, but a Super Two qualifier — such as Ibáñez and Brieske — receives four years of arbitration eligibility.
In 2025, the Tigers will pay $26.76 million to nine arbitration-eligible players.
Here’s the full breakdown, listed in order of salary: Skubal ($10.15 million), Foley ($3.15 million), Vierling ($3.005 million), Rogers ($2.64 million), Mize ($2.34 million), McKinstry ($1.65 million), Vest ($1.4 million), Ibáñez ($1.4 million), Brieske ($1.025 million).
The Tigers are also on the hook for another $68.5 million to five players on free agent or longterm deals: SS Javier Báez ($25 million), RHP Alex Cobb ($15 million), 2B Gleyber Torres ($15 million), RHP Kenta Maeda ($10 million) and 1B Colt Keith ($3.5 million). The remainder of the Tigers’ 26-man roster, including players such as DH Kerry Carpenter and RHP Reese Olson, will make the league-minimum salary, set for $760,000 in 2025.
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For now, Skubal is the fourth-highest paid player on the Tigers’ roster in 2025, trailing only Báez, Cobb and Torres. Keith, who signed a contract extension before his MLB debut, checks in at sixth on the leaderboard.
Skubal made the All-Star Game for the first time in his five-year MLB career en route to winning the Cy Young in 2024, posting an 18-4 record with a 2.39 ERA, 35 walks and 228 strikeouts across 192 innings in 31 starts. He led the AL in wins, ERA and strikeouts to secure the first AL pitching Triple Crown in a full season since 2011.
When next offseason rolls around, Skubal is all but guaranteed to surpass $15 million (and could reach $20 million) for his 2026 salary in his third and final trip through the arbitration process before free agency.
The Tigers haven’t had an arbitration hearing with a player since Michael Fulmer in 2019, with Fulmer losing to the Tigers. Before Fulmer’s case, there hadn’t been an arbitration hearing involving the Tigers since 2001.
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