The New York Yankees have gone 16 years without winning a World Series, and one former player is urging them to put all their chips on the table to build a team this offseason that can end this drought.
It’s still uncertain whether the Yankees will bring back Cody Bellinger and be a serious player for Kyle Tucker. Nonetheless, former Yankee Cameron Maybin wants New York to go the pitching route and build a rotation that’s arguably the best in MLB.
On November 20, Maybin wrote on X that the Yankees need to put together a package to land Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal.
“Tucker and Bellinger will shake up somebody’s offseason, but the move that would take over the entire league is the Yankees going to get Skubal,” Maybin wrote. “Tigers clearly don’t want to pay him, or they would have already…. I’m sure they’re trying to justify or convince themselves how it’s probably not smart to pay Skubal what he deserves….
“But imagine pairing him with a healthy Sandy Alcantara in the Bronx along with [Max] Fried, [Gerrit] Cole, [Carlos] Rodon. That is a playoff nightmare for every lineup in baseball. And I don’t want to hear anything about payroll. This is the Yankees. If you want to win, you find a way to make it happen!”
Yankees Unlikely to Pull Tarik Skubal Away From Tigers
Despite persistent trade rumors, Skubal took to “Foul Territory” on November 20 to address the chatter head-on and set the record straight.
“I think with the way social media is, it’s hard not to see things about yourself, especially when it’s talking about trades and all those hypotheticals,” Skubal said. “… It’s not going to impact the way I’m going to work out or the way I’m going to throw or prepare to get my body ready to go for another season. So it’s all out of my control. I think as a player you don’t really like it—unless you want to be traded, but that’s a whole different situation.
“But it’s not like I want to be traded. So it does make you wonder, ‘Hey, why am I in these conversations to begin with?’ It doesn’t really impact anything that I’m going to do day-to-day, and I try to just stay off of it and not look at it. That’s how I’ve handled it at the trade deadlines in years past, and it seems to work for me.”
MLB Insider Doesn’t Expect Tarik Skubal to Be Traded
Jon Heyman of the New York Post is backing up Skubal’s perspective. He pointed out that, despite having only one year left on his contract, the Tigers aren’t likely to move their ace this offseason.
“A year ago, the Tigers made an offer,” Heyman said on November 19 during a live stream for Bleacher Report. “It was less than $80 million for four years. They were looking at two free-agent years at the time. I mean, that really was never going to get it done. I’m not really sure. It’s a smart front office. I’m not sure what they were intending to do there.
“Obviously, [Garrett] Crochet got double that right after, and Skubal was never going to sign anything like that anyway. I do think the Tigers will gauge the market. Do I think they’re going to trade them? Still doubtful. I wouldn’t rule it out. I would hold on to them because they are a good team.”
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