MLB.com is keeping track of the latest news and rumors surrounding Tarik Skubal.
May 31: Will struggling Tigers trade Skubal?
Trade rumors are already swirling around Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, even with more than two months to go before the Trade Deadline and the lefty on the IL following elbow surgery.
Detroit has its 4-20 record since May 4 to thank for that, turning what was a postseason hopeful into a potential Deadline seller. With Skubal set to become a free agent at the end of this season, the Tigers front office faces a pivotal decision on whether to move its most valuable chip rather than watch him walk for nothing more than Draft compensation (via the qualifying offer) during the offseason.
Granted, not every executive MLB.com's Mark Feinsand asked about Skubal is ready to say that a trade is a foregone conclusion. The Tigers entered Sunday seven games out of the third AL Wild Card spot, and there's a lot of time left for them to get back in the race.
In FOX Sports reporter Ken Rosenthal's view, however, the Tigers' playoff chances are almost beside the point. Rather, the bigger variable is whether Skubal will be healthy.
"The outlook right now is rather bleak, and honestly, it's difficult to imagine them making up a 14-game-under-.500 deficit, getting back to .500 and then contending, even in a weak American League," Rosenthal said Saturday before the Tigers dropped to 22-37 with another loss. "So the question becomes, will Skubal be healthy enough? And that's what we don't know.
"As long as he proves that he is healthy again, teams are going to line up, and then the question becomes, are the Tigers willing? And certainly, if the standings are that daunting, if the situation is that bleak, they're going to have to listen."