Guardians fans should be jumping for joy as Tigers bungle Tarik Skubal’s arbitration

Major League Baseball’s arbitration system is like nothing else in professional sports. While every major American sport has tenuous contract situations, they all pale in comparison to MLB's system, which requires players and teams to submit contract figures to try to figure out salaries amongst themselves. 

And if the two sides aren’t able to come to an agreement then they go to an arbitration hearing where both sides stake their case for why they believe their salary figure is correct. In most cases, the two sides are fighting over a million dollars or two. 

And then there’s the case of the Tigers and Tarik Skubal. 

On Thursday, word began to leak out that the Tigers and Skubal are going to head to an arbitration hearing because of how far apart they were in talks… and it turns out they were very far apart. According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (and later confirmed by other insiders), the Tigers filed a salary figure of $19 million, whereas Skubal filed at $32 million. 

Guardians fans should enjoy watching the Tigers mess things up with Tarik Skubal

If Skubal ends up getting that number, he’d break David Price’s record for highest overall arbitration salary for a pitcher ($19.75 million) while also setting a new benchmark for earnings in a single arbitration (Juan Soto holds the current record at $31 million). 

Skubal made $10 million last season, so he has a real shot at breaking Jacob deGrom’s record for largest arbitration raise for a pitcher ($9.6 million).He also has five years of service time, which means that Skubal will be able to compare him to everyone in baseball during the hearings; not just past arbitration-eligible players. 

And Skubal’s clearly in a class of his own, as he’s won back-to-back American League Cy Young awards and has been a thorn in the Guardians’ side since he made his MLB debut. But it’s clear that the Tigers don’t want to pay him, which has led to there being plenty of buzz about him as an attainable trade target. 

All of that should be music to Guardians’ fans ears. As mentioned above, Skubal has been one of the best pitchers in baseball but always seems to reach another level when pitching against Cleveland. 

After tossing seven shutouts innings against Cleveland in the 2024 ALDS, he put together one of the best starts in recent postseason history by allowing one run over 7 2/3 innings against the Guardians in the 2025 Wild Card Series with 14 strikeouts. 

And even though Skubal is still going to be with the Tigers in 2026 (so long as the Tigers don’t trade him), this is just another example of the tenuous relationship he seems to have with Detroit’s ownership. 

Skubal seems destined to get a record contract in free agency next offseason, and it’s becoming more and more evident the Tigers aren’t going to be the ones who offer him that contract.