Mariners Rumors: MLB insider casually throws Seattle into Tarik Skubal trade storm

When you look at the Seattle Mariners' roster as it stands right now, starting pitching is the one area where they're already good to go for 2026. They have five quality starters, plus a couple more in reserve.

None of them is Tarik Skubal, however. Only Tarik Skubal is Tarik Skubal, and he'll soon have a second Cy Young Award to contextualize what that means. After that, the only question anyone will be asking is how long it'll be before he's an ex-Detroit Tiger.

Trade speculation is swirling around the ace lefty, who is due for free agency after the 2026 season. And according to ESPN's Buster Olney, rival teams believe the Tigers will "seriously consider" trading Skubal if they get an offer to their liking.

Then came the bombshell in Olney's report: "The Mariners are expected to be among the teams that go after Skubal, to bring him back to the city where he attended college."

The Mariners are suddenly expected to be in the running to trade for Tarik Skubal

It was only two weeks ago that we came down on the side of the Mariners needing to avoid temptation on a Skubal trade. They have more pressing matters to see to this winter, and the sheer risk-reward ratio of a deal for an ace who would only be likely to stick around for one year is generally outside the franchise's comfort zone.

Yet if Olney is to be believed, the Mariners apparently think otherwise. And even if that doesn't completely distract from the risk that would be involved in trading for Skubal — who played college ball at Seattle University — it does point to an exciting change of course, in which the Mariners finally go all-in on a World Series run.

They only fell one win short of making it to the Fall Classic this year, and that was after they survived Skubal not once, but twice in the American League Division Series. They ended up going 4-0 in games he started against them this year — a seemingly impossible feat, given that the 28-year-old's ERA, WHIP, K/9 and BB//9 all got better relative to his Cy Young-winning effort in 2024.

If the Mariners do go hard after Skubal, it could be because they truly feel like they need a No. 1 in a rotation that already has Bryan Woo, Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Luis Castillo and Bryce Miller. Or, it could be because they simply can go hard after Skubal.

The Mariners have eight prospects in MLB Pipeline's top 100, and that isn't even a full accounting of their best trade assets. Cole Young and Logan Evans showed promise as rookies this year, and one of those starters could hypothetically be involved in a trade with Detroit.

MLB Trade Rumors projects a $17.8 million salary for Skubal in 2026, yet Baseball Trade Values still estimates that he'll have $51.6 million in surplus value. That's about $20 million more than fellow Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes had before he was traded ahead of his walk year in 2024.

Just as Burnes only stayed in Baltimore for 2024, Skubal would probably only stay in Seattle for 2026. According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, his "baseline ask" in contract negotiations has been $400 million. And that's not even as a free agent yet.

Then again, one assumes the Mariners would know what they were getting into if they did pull off a trade for Skubal. And so long as the team also filled its other needs, the "World Series or bust" energy would be stronger than ever in 2026.