For most of MLB history, the New York Yankees have been tangled up in trade and free-agency rumors involving every single major name in the sport.
They might no longer be the Evil Empire — they’ve ceded that moniker to the Los Angeles Dodgers — but that’s still the case.
That’s why, if the Detroit Tigers make Tarik Skubal available in trade talks, they will most definitely be in the mix to trade for him.
However, according to The Athletic’s Jim Bowden, they won’t go all-in to land the two-time AL Cy Young winner, and they’ll only try to get him if the price makes sense.
The Yankees won’t sell the farm to trade for Tarik Skubal
“…There really isn’t a need to trade their top prospects to land Skubal. They’re not going to offer Carlos Lagrange or George Lombard Jr. for a rental,” Bowden wrote. “That being said, I can see them making a low-ball offer of Spencer Jones and Ben Hess and at least stay involved in the talks. If the prospect price becomes realistic, they’ll be players.”
That approach makes sense, especially given how this team has operated in the Hal Steinbrenner era; they no longer go after superstars just for the sake of it.
That said, whoever trades for Skubal likely won’t be seeing it as a rental. They’d give up valuable assets to get a chance to re-sign him in free agency to the big-money deal he’s looking for and worthy of.
Then again, the Yankees may have some issues, but their starting rotation, when healthy, certainly isn’t one of those.
Carlos Rodon and Gerrit Cole are back on the mound, and with Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Ryan Weathers, they might not need to go all-in to get Skubal.
Whatever the case, the Yankees should still be a player in the trade market, as they’ve been way too streaky at the plate this season, and they may not have enough firepower to end their franchise-worst World Series drought.