Crafting a trade package for SF Giants to land Tigers' ace Cy Young pitcher

The SF Giants are going to be looking to add starting pitchers this offseason, so why not take a swing for the best? With reports that the Detroit Tigers and ace Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal are $250 million apart in contract negotiations, could the Giants swoop in and snag him?

Admittedly, this would be an unlikely move for the Giants, or pretty much any team, to make. The Tigers certainly do not want to get rid of Skubal, but they may decide they cannot afford whatever contract he will demand and figure they should trade him to at least get something for him.

What would it take for SF Giants to land Tarik Skubal?

Skubal will not come cheap. He won the 2024 American League Cy Young Award in 2024 and is heavily favored to win it again. Skubal had a 13-6 record in 2025 with a 2.21 ERA in 31 starts and recorded 241 strikeouts in 195 and 1/3 innings pitched.

The lefty has simply been remarkable, so any team that wants to trade for him will have to pony up.

Do the Giants have what it would take to land someone like Skubal? The Tigers would almost certainly demand top prospect Bryce Eldridge in any potential trade so the Giants would have to be willing to part with him. They might also demand a young prospect like shortstop Josuar Gonzalez who is flying up the rankings.

The Tigers are also a team that is looking to remain competitive so maybe the Giants would have to include Robbie Ray, who actually learned his changeup which he used to great effect in 2025 from Skubal, so the Tigers felt they were at least getting one big-league-caliber arm in the deal.

The Giants would probably have to give up some combination of Eldridge, Gonzalez, Ray, and maybe even top pitching prospect Carson Whisenhunt to get a deal done potentially. At least two of those players would have to be in any potential package. Skubal is only under contract through 2026 so he could end up being a rental, but the Tigers are still going to ask for a lot for a pitcher of his caliber.

In short, the Tigers would demand a king's ransom in any sort of potential deal for Skubal. The Giants could try to put together their best offer, but it may pale in comparison to what some other clubs would be willing to give up.

A trade of Skubal would be exceedingly unlikely, but if the last few years of professional sports have taught us anything, it is to expect the unexpected when it comes to trades.

President of baseball operations Buster Posey proved earlier this year that he is not afraid to take a big swing on a trade which is what he did for slugger Rafael Devers. Trading for Skubal would be orders of magnitude harder and more unlikely, but maybe Posey could pull off two insane trades in the same year.