If the Detroit Tigers (27-39) feel they are unlikely to make the playoffs this year, president of baseball operations Scott Harris will presumably trade two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal for the best haul possible before the Aug. 3 MLB trade deadline. And if he chooses that path, a “for sale” sign should be plastered across the chest of all productive players who are on expiring contracts. Casey Mize should particularly command attention over the next 50-plus days.
MLB.com’s Jason Beck named the 29-year-old right-handed starting pitcher as a trade chip to watch.
“Yeah, we get it, Tarik Skubal will be the biggest name in baseball around the Deadline. But if the Tigers indeed end up becoming sellers, Mize is a sneaky name to watch,” he writes. “The former No. 1 overall pick is off to the best start of his career, even better than his All-Star campaign last year.”
Mize is not just the second-most coveted trade piece on the Tigers; he might wind up being the second-most coveted trade piece in the entire league when all is said and done. It took the former No. 1 overall draft pick some time to get his mojo back after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2022, but he has put together an impressive body of work over the last year-plus.
Mize has a 2.27 ERA with 49 strikeouts, a 0.965 WHIP and .572 OPS against through 47 2/3 innings pitched in 2026. There is one big problem, though. He is struggling to stay on the mound. The Springville, Alabama native is currently serving his second stint on the injured list this season after re-aggravating an abductor issue in late May. Just as is the case for Skubal, health concerns could affect Detroit’s return value for Casey Mize.
This is all hypothetical at the moment, however. The Tigers will try to avoid these difficult questions by clawing their way back into relevance. They are five and a half games out of the final American League Wild Card position and will now begin a home series against the Minnesota Twins (30-37).
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