The Yankees are one of a half-dozen teams to check in on two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell, but the Giants are telling teams they don’t want to pay down Snell’s $30 million 2025 player option.
The Yankees asked about White Sox ace Garrett Crochet but were told they “don’t match up,” at least initially.
And yes, the Yankees have interest in elite left-hander Tarik Skubal — maybe the game’s best starting pitcher — but like the rest of baseball they also don’t believe the improving Tigers have any interest in trading him.
One person with some knowledge of the Skubal situation, actually texted in regard to a trade possibility, “NO CHANCE.”
Of course, you never know, but the all-caps text is pretty convincing.
There were also some rumblings the Yankees were in on top right-handed rental Jack Flaherty. However, things didn’t look overwhelmingly positive on that front, either.
The Yankees are handicapped by having only a middling stash of prospects, being firmly ensconced in the fourth-tier, 110 percent luxury-tax basket and wanting desperately to give themselves enough financial flexibility to maintain an excellent chance to extend superstar hitter Juan Soto after the season.
But they better do something.
The rival Orioles already landed nice righty starter Zach Eflin and they’re loaded to keep adding. And if there were legitimate betting houses taking wagers on Snell and Skubal, they’d probably be the favorite for either one.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. was a nice, fun add for the Yankees, and it’s great he’s super-happy to try to play third base (a spot he’d never played in professional baseball until Monday), and he’ll probably hit better than league average now that he’s in the middle of a real major league lineup. But this deadline can’t be considered a huge winner if the Yankees only land Chisholm and a reliever or two — even if they somehow outflank the dozen or so teams in the bidding for All-Star-caliber closers Tanner Scott, Kyle Finnegan or Pete Fairbanks.
The Yankees are the marquee franchise of Major League Baseball, they haven’t won or even been to a World Series in 15 years and Soto conceivably could head elsewhere after the season (though the New Yorker in me believes he’d be smart to stay). And if they do nothing more, they aren’t even the best team in their own division, much less the league or MLB.
The Orioles beat the Yankees by 19 games last year, and while reasonable health, Judge’s extraordinary hitting and Soto’s presence closed the gap a bit, it’s hard to see the Yankees as the AL East favorite. They’re good. But they aren’t good enough.
I do like the Jazz move, and not just because he’s good for newspaper headline writers. He brings new life to our Jekyll-and-Hyde team which followed more than a month as the second-worst team in baseball after two-plus months playing like they were the best team.
Of course, we know now that was a mirage, and while it’s always possible to recapture that magic in October (heaven knows they’re due for some playoff over-performance against somebody other than the Twins), the smart money says that’s not too likely. This team has too many questions, from the unbalanced lineup to the pitch-to-contact bullpen to the rotation that has great names and potential but like the rest of the team performed impossibly poorly for over a month after performing improbably wonderfully for two-plus months.
It’s great that Gerrit Cole is back but he’s still trying to recapture his 2023 magic following an elbow issue that cost him the first half of the season. Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman and even Nestor Cortes have had their moments, just not quite enough of them since their slide started in mid-June. Luis Gil out of nowhere is their best starter but he, too, is showing some inconsistency.
They need to bolster their rotation in a big way, not just because the Orioles (and Dodgers) are the most likely team to do so, but also because they are just not good enough. I get it. The price of doing business isn’t just high, it’s extraordinary. But it’s time to act.
The folks who follow the minors game a lot more closely say the prospect prices for Carlos Estevez and Jason Adam were enormous. So to get a rotation difference-maker it’s clear you’ll need to give up big prospects and/or fork over big bucks. The Yankees are in the very same situation they were this spring in needing to add a great rotation piece. Only now we know for sure that’s the case.
Crochet would cost big prospects, and come with October uncertainty due to his big innings jump and concern about his arm and elbow. Skubal (if he’s even being discussed) would cost all the best prospects. And Snell wouldn’t come cheap.
But some marginal moves around the edges, even fun ones like Jazz, just aren’t going to cut it. This team needs too much help.
