Six Tigers Who Could Be Traded Before the Deadline (Skubal Not Included)

The Detroit Tigers have a problem most bad teams don’t mind having. They’ve got a generational ace in Tarik Skubal, and the entire league wants him. But here’s the thing that’s getting lost in all those blockbuster trade dreams: Skubal might not even be the only Tiger packing his bags.

MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand put together a list of six non-Skubal players that other teams are already circling. The names: Kenley Jansen, Kyle Finnegan, Gleyber Torres, Casey Mize, Drew Anderson, and Jack Flaherty. That’s a mix of veteran rentals and younger arms that could help contenders fill specific holes.

The front office is still arguing about what to do

One AL executive told Feinsand the Tigers aren’t dead yet. “They are not dead. They have one of the better teams in the AL and definitely the most talented team in the AL Central. My guess is that if they have a greater than 25% chance of making the playoffs, they will hold.”

That’s not exactly a hot take, but it’s a real tension point inside the organization. Detroit sits at 35-48 heading into Sunday. That’s not a playoff record. But the AL Central is the AL Central, and stranger things have happened.

Another AL exec put it more bluntly about timing: “We’re not even a month out from the Deadline; the world can look a lot different by then. They already carry 25% odds of making the playoffs, so I can see a world where they hold or buy some.”

So there’s a faction that genuinely believes this team could sneak in. And if that happens, they’d rather keep the pieces than flip them for prospects.

The Skubal problem looms over everything

Skubal has won back-to-back AL Cy Young awards and is working his way back from an elbow injury this season. He’s the kind of pitcher who changes a franchise’s timeline overnight. But one AL executive thinks the Tigers are fooling themselves if they keep him.

“They have to move Skubal; there’s no way around it. They will set that franchise back 10 years if they don’t. He’s gone at the end of the year regardless, and they can pull Major League assets back.”

That’s a bleak view, but it’s not coming from nowhere. If Skubal walks in free agency, Detroit gets nothing but a compensatory pick. Trading him now could net multiple impact players. The question is whether the front office has the stomach for a full teardown after years of losing.

The Tigers play the Astros on Sunday. That game won’t decide anything on its own, but it’s another data point in a season full of them. The trade deadline is a month away, and the only thing everyone agrees on is that something has to give.