Why rival executives are 'extremely skeptical' Tigers will trade Tarik Skubal

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Tarik Skubal may be staying with the Detroit Tigers past the trade deadline.

Instead of trading the back-to-back AL Cy Young Award winner and acquiring a sizeable prospect haul, the Tigers could attempt to make the postseason with the lefty.

According to a report from ESPN's Buster Olney, rival executives across the Majors do not believe there's a strong possibility Skubal will be traded.

"The Tigers are 22-14 since the start of June, which means they've been playing at a 99-win pace for almost a quarter of the season," Olney wrote. "It's this trendline that has some rival executives extremely skeptical that Detroit will trade Skubal -- or, for that matter, Casey Mize."

Skubal has looked strong on the mound since his fast turnaround from surgery to remove loose bodies in his throwing elbow.

"They went in big on this year, making the decision to keep Skubal, and then they signed Framber [Valdez]," a source told Olney. "They're making up ground on the leaders -- and now they might trade [Skubal]? I don't see it, unless they lose a bunch of games [coming out of the All-Star break]."

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Thus far in July, Skubal has posted a 2.70 ERA with 14 strikeouts in 10 innings in his two starts.

This offseason, Skubal is likely to sign outside of Detroit.

However, if the Tigers continue this winning pace, he may not be going anywhere.