The New York Yankees hold the second-best record in the American League as they try to keep pace with the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays and hold off the surging Boston Red Sox.
Much like the rest of the contenders around the league, the Yankees seemingly did not make much of a push to acquire Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers. He went to the reigning back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers instead.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he was “not surprised” by Skubal’s destination when asked about it, per Greg Joyce of the New York Post.
“Not shocked,” manager Aaron Boone said at Wrigley Field. “You knew Skubal, it seemed like he was available the last few days. So not shocked, knowing the system the Dodgers had.”
While adding Skubal was not necessarily a pressing need for the Yankees, who entered the trade deadline with the best ERA in MLB and one of the league’s top-five starting rotations, it was still surprising they did not show greater interest in acquiring the back-to-back AL Cy Young Award winner.
Still, it is hard to criticize their approach too harshly given how the Dodgers chose to navigate the decision of trading away prospects. While the Dodgers have aggressively traded prospects over the years, it has been their ability to draw a line in the sand for certain talent that has been a huge part of their success up to this point.
A prime example is Corey Seager being requested in trade talks with the Philadelphia Phillies for Cole Hamels back in 2015. Perhaps the Yankees have a similar feeling about top prospect George Lombard Jr., and only time will tell if they were right.
Yankees trade deadline moves
The Yankees did make two moves to bolster their offense at the trade deadline, adding Luis García Jr. from the Washington Nationals and Heliot Ramos from the San Francisco Giants. However, their deadline was defined less by what they did than by what they did not do.
The Yankees sent a pair of right-handed pitchers to the Nationals in exchange for García Jr. Jack Cebert was New York’s No. 14 prospect and Ben Grable was their No. 25 overall prospect, according to MLB Pipeline.
The Yankees also sent Kaeden Kent (No. 13) and Henry Lalane (No. 5) to the Giants in the deal for Ramos.
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