Tarik Skubal won his arbitration case against the Detroit Tigers on Feb. 5, earning a record salary of $32 million after the Tigers requested a 2026 salary of $19 million.
Skubal’s victory after a hearing before a three-person panel the day before sets him up for a final year in Detroit before the two-time reigning Cy Young Award winner is expected to receive a record haul in free agency.
Before hitting the market, though, he earned a landmark victory over his team.
The $13 million gap between team and player was a record in salary arbitration, and Skubal’s victory was a record for a player who went to a hearing, topping Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s $19.9 million award in 2024. It’s also the single highest one-year salary for an arbitration-eligible player, edging Juan Soto’s $31 million one-year pact with the Yankees in 2024.
Skubal is certainly worth it: Over the past two seasons, he’s struck out 469 batters in 387 1/3 innings, going 31-10 with a 2.30 ERA and winning the AL’s pitching triple crown this year. He also led the majors with a 7.30 strikeout-walk ratio and a 0.89 WHIP.
When is Tarik Skubal a free agent?
For one year, Skubal will join forces with top free agent pitcher Framber Valdez, who on the same day Skubal and the Tigers went to trial was agreeing to a three-year, $115 million deal with the Tigers. Valdez’s $38.3 million average annual salary is a record for a left-handed pitcher, and will earn more this season than his Cy Young-winning mate.
That should change next year when Skubal hits the market. For now, he’s already got a fairly big win in his column.
The three-person arbitration panel is tasked not with determining which salary to award, but rather whether to go higher or lower than the midpoint of the two sides’ offers – in this case, $25.5 million. Skubal’s body of work clearly moved the panel to favor a salary north of that – and Skubal will be compensated in record fashion for what’s likely his final year in Detroit.
