Yankees' Tarik Skubal Pursuit Could Prove Disastrous

The New York Yankees are heading into a critical MLB offseason in which they must at least somewhat deviate from their recent strategy of essentially running it back.

It certainly didn't work this past season, when the Yankees were swept by the Tampa Bay Rays in the Division Series, and it absolutely won't work next year, either.

New York needs to get aggressive in free agency to fill holes at second base, third base and in its bullpen, and there are definitely a variety of targets it can pursue, both via the open market and trades, to solve those problems.

But should the Yankees go for broke and make a push for Tarik Skubal?

ESPN's Kiley McDaniel recently revealed that New York is "thinking about" a Skubal pursuit and then trading from its stockpile of starting pitchers to clear room for him.

That would probably mean at least one of Ryan Weathers or Will Warren would be on the move. That is, of course, unless the Yanks moved one of them to the pen.

Regardless, the fact that the Yankees are considering making a run at Skubal is encouraging in the sense that it may indicate Hal Steinbrenner is actually willing to spend this winter, but the problem is that Skubal really isn't the answer.

New York does not have an issue in its starting rotation. Cam Schlittler, Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Warren and Weathers comprise the best group in baseball, and while Skubal is obviously a superstar, he wouldn't really fix what truly ails the ballclub.

Signing Skubal to a deal worth in the neighborhood of $350-400 million would almost surely prevent the Yankees from making significant moves elsewhere. Ergo, New York would enter 2027 with the same problems.

Starting pitching has not been the bugaboo for the Yankees in any of their most recent playoff failures. It has been a lack of timely hitting, poor defense and execution. The rotation isn't the problem.

Skubal is a luxury; not a magic elixir. Would he make New York better? Obviously, because he's that good, but the Yankees would still have the same holes.

Plus, Skubal is 30 years old and has already had three elbow surgeries. A decline could be coming in the relatively near future, and if he ends up getting a lifetime contract, that could severely handicap the Bronx Bombers moving forward.

Skubal sounds nice in theory, but he is not who the Yankees should be after this offseason.