Detroit Tigers Ace Tarik Skubal Could Push For Largest Pitcher Contract Ever
Tarik Skubal is coming off an absolutely massive season for the Detroit Tigers, winning the triple-crown and a unanimous American League Cy Young award.
Having just turned 28 years old, Skubal is still under team control for the next two seasons, and in those two seasons the Tigers must make it count because after that it's going to get very dicey assuming they don't extend him before then.
If Skubal continues at the same rate for Detroit over the next two seasons, not only is he going to be borderline impossible for Detroit to keep, but he will sign a deal that shatters records. In a recent article, Fox Sports pondered what the next massive contracts across the league could look like after Juan Soto signed the largest deal in the history of professional sports and while Skubal won't come close to touching the $765 million that Soto got sheerly due to being a pitcher, he does have a chance to come close or exceed the largest ever for a pitcher.
"A pitcher, no matter how good, won't pose a threat to Soto's record," the article said. "But it seems possible for Skubal to earn more on an annual basis than anyone in baseball outside of two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani. He's also a Boras client, which means they'll likely be fighting for that mark."
The 15-year deals like Soto signed simply don't exist for a pitcher and for good reason, but that doesn't mean that Skubal won't be able to approach a jaw-dropping AAV. Yoshinobu Yamamoto broke the record for largest total contract for a pitcher after signing with the Dodgers last winter for $325 million, but he was 5 years younger at the time than when Skubal would be entering free agency.
Something more along the lines of the $324 million Gerrit Cole received with the Yankees over 9 years would be more realistic to expect Skubal to command. If Skubal did in fact sign a nine-year deal, seeing it pass Cole's massive number would be more of an expectation than a surprise, assuming he remains a Cy Young caliber pitcher over the next two seasons prior to hitting free agency.
It's not impossible that the Tigers are able to keep Skubal, but there's no question they will have to go beyond what they ever perceived as comfortable or reasonable. Granted, this is still two years away and fans should enjoy the best pitcher they've had in a very long time while he's here rather than worrying about the future, but ownership must save their pennies over the next two seasons if they want any hope at keeping him.
