Tarik Skubal Wins Record $32M Arbitration Against Tigers
An arbitration panel on Feb. 5, 2026 awarded Tarik Skubal a record $32 million, rejecting the Detroit Tigers' $19 million offer.
Overview
An arbitration panel of Jeanne Charles, Walt De Treux and Allen Ponak awarded Tarik Skubal $32 million on Feb. 5, 2026 instead of the Detroit Tigers' $19 million offer, arbitration records show.
The $32 million sum is the largest award handed down by an arbitration panel and represents a $13 million gap between offers, a record in salary arbitration, arbitration records show.
Scott Boras, Skubal's agent, said after the hearing that the ruling reflected Skubal's back-to-back Cy Young Awards and that the panel considered comparators including Blake Snell's $36.4 million average salary, Boras's office said.
Skubal, 29, is a two-time Cy Young Award winner who went 13-6 with a 2.21 ERA, 241 strikeouts and 195 1/3 innings last season, statistics MLB records show that his representatives cited at the hearing.
Skubal will be eligible for free agency after the 2026 season, and Boras said the arbitration ruling increases Skubal's leverage in free agency and could shift valuations for one-year arbitration-eligible players, agents and analysts said.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources present the arbitration outcome neutrally, emphasizing facts, context and attributed quotes. They avoid loaded language, provide comparative precedents and CBA text, and separate agent commentary (Boras’s colorful metaphors) as source content. Examples: record $32 million headline, cited contract precedents, player statistics and service-time rule.
Sources (3)
FAQ
It set the highest salary ever awarded through arbitration, surpassing Juan Soto's $31 million in 2024, the largest gap between offers at $13 million over the Tigers' $19 million, and the highest for a pitcher in arbitration history.
History
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