Sources: Tarik Skubal wins arbitration over Tigers, to make $32M - ESPN

Detroit Tigers star left-hander Tarik Skubal will be paid $32 million this year after a three-person salary arbitration panel ruled in his favor Thursday over the $19 million salary the team proposed, sources told ESPN.

The victory for Skubal, 29, the two-time reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, not only bests the record salary for a player in the arbitration system by $1 million but shatters the previous high mark of $19.9 million for an award from a panel.

How the decision affects Skubal's future, which has been clouded by questions about the Tigers potentially trading him before he becomes a free agent after this season, is unclear. The Tigers' signing of the best free agent left on the market, Framber Valdez, to a three-year, $115 million contract hours after Skubal's hearing ended Wednesday gave Detroit one of the best No. 2 starters in Major League Baseball — or a backup ace should the arbitration decision change Detroit's posture, which has been to enter the season with Skubal.

Salary arbitration took a front-and-center role this winter because of the stark disparity between Skubal's request and the Tigers' counteroffer. The system allows players with between three and six years of major league service time to propose a salary, typically based on past comparables. While more than 90% of arbitration-eligible players settle their cases, Skubal was intent on trying to push the boundaries of the system.

The gambit worked. Leaning on a seldom-used provision in arbitration that allows players with five-plus years of service and so-called «special accomplishment» — back-to-back Cy Youngs qualify — to compare their salaries not just to those in the arbitration system but all major league players, Skubal built