The Tarik Skubal sweepstakes are starting to shape the trade deadline conversation, and the New York Yankees have every reason to keep one eye on Detroit and the other on Tampa Bay.
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Rays are preparing to be “aggressive buyers at the deadline,” and Skubal is on their radar. Nightengale also reported that Tampa Bay has checked in on other options, including whether the Diamondbacks would move second baseman Ketel Marte and Giants All-Star second baseman Luis Arraez as a backup plan.
For the Yankees, that’s the kind of competition they’d rather avoid. New York is in the mix for Skubal too, but Jon Heyman called the possibility a “long shot” for the Yankees.
“You mentioned the Yankees,” Heyman said on July 6. “It goes up and down, back and forth.
Now with the Rodon injury, he's going to be out four to six weeks. This is a team that came in with a ton of starting pitching, and you wouldn't have thought that Scoubol would be a possibility for them.
I still think they're probably a long shot for Skubal, but they are going to look at starting pitching. So you do never know.”
Skubal’s own preference may be the biggest wrinkle in all of this. Nightengale reported that he has told friends he badly wants to remain in Detroit for the “rest of the season,” believing the Tigers have a real shot at the World Series. He also has “zero appetite to be traded.”
“I’ve never lost faith,” Skubal says.
.@JonHeyman mentions the Phillies and Yankees as potential suitors for back-to-back AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal:
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) July 6, 2026
“He knows that there's a good chance he's getting traded…” pic.twitter.com/4lgBvj9OzG
Where he ends up by the deadline is still up in the air.
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