The New York Yankees are reportedly bringing back free-agent hitter Cody Bellinger. However, outside of that, they don’t appear to be making any major moves, despite losing to the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Division Series.
While the big names in the free agent market are off the list, New York can explore the trade route and after seeing the New York Mets land Freddy Peralta, the next potential trade candidate is Detroit Tigers‘ Tarik Skubal.
Nonetheless, any Skubal sweepstakes might be too rich for the Yankees as the New York Post’s Jon Heyman shared the latest on that front on both teams from the Big Apple.
“Tarik Skubal is super elite, and the Tigers are well within their rights to expect a huge return if they surprise us and deal him,” Heyman wrote in an article published on Jan. 22. “After brief talks, the Yankees and Mets quickly figured they have no chance.
“There’s nothing wrong with keeping MLB’s best pitcher. And the Tigers signed two free agent closers and extended star manager A.J. Hinch in summer, which suggests they aim to make the playoffs a third straight season. The Tigers are actually looking to add a starting pitcher.”
Yankees Get Called Out for Lack of Major Improvements
Despite the Yankees not losing Bellinger and keeping him in the fold, SNY’s Sal Licata doesn’t hold back that New York haven’t done enough to improve the team this offseason.
“Yanks are bringing back Cody Bellinger,” Licata said on the Jan. 21 edition of “Baseball Night in New York.” “Real shocker there. The Yankees needed them, and he had no better options. Clearly, the Mets didn’t really want them. So now that that’s settled, can the Yanks actually try to improve the team? The idea shouldn’t be to stay the same and hope for the best.
“It should be to get better, especially when you fell far short of your goals a year ago, and other teams in your own division have improved. What the heck has happened to the Yankees being so complacent?”
Are the Yankees Good Enough to Win the AL East?
If the Yankees believe that Skubal isn’t worth the asking price and decide to run it back and wait for their starting pitchers to get healthy, John Jastremski of SNY also said on the same broadcast that New York hasn’t made enough improvements to get themselves back to a World Series.
“They’re not good enough right now, “Jastremski said. “The Toronto Blue Jays beat them up every which way imaginable last year. In games north of the border, the Yankees couldn’t beat them. They played in the American League Division Series. It wasn’t particularly close.
“Toronto won that series in four games. I think the Yankees are making a foolish mistake if they look at their team and say, ‘Hey, guess what? Gerrit Cole is coming back.‘ Here’s our lineup. They love the stock line of, ‘Oh, we won the same amount of games as the Toronto Blue Jays last year.‘ They also lost in four games and got thoroughly outclassed.”
Insider Reveals Big Mets, Yankees Decision on Tarik Skubal