Brian Cashman and the New York Yankees have a plethora of needs to fulfill before the trade deadline closes at 6 p.m. ET on Monday. Those include reliable bullpen arms, catching reinforcements, an impact bat, and outfield help following Cody Bellinger’s placement on the IL. Starting pitching, however, is not one of those needs, but that’s where things get interesting. Tarik Skubal’s name has surfaced in trade discussions, and allowing him to land with a rival, especially the Los Angeles Dodgers, could hurt the Yankees’ World Series aspirations. At least, that’s what MLB analysts believe.

“What are the Yankees doing? They’re making a huge mistake by not being in on this,” Sal Licata said on SNY’s Baseball Night in New York, per SNY Yankees on X. “Not only by not getting him (Skubal), if he goes to the Dodgers, how can you sit here with a straight face and say that the Yankees could beat the Dodgers in the postseason, assuming that they face him in the World Series?”

With Shohei Ohtani shut down from pitching, the Dodgers are reportedly the frontrunners in the race to bag the reigning Cy Young winner. Skubal, who returned to pitching in June after undergoing elbow surgery, has posted a 2.79 ERA and a 7-5 record this season.

The Dodgers are aiming for a three-peat in the World Series, and adding Skubal to a rotation spearheaded by Yoshinobu Yamamoto would only make them more formidable in the postseason.

The Yankees, on the other hand, have not won a World Series since 2009. During their last World Series run in 2024, the Bronx club fell to the Dodgers 4-1. According to the analysts, keeping the door open for Skubal to go to the Dodgers can only put a roadblock in their World Series dreams.

However, the 29-year-old will become a free agent at the end of this season, and bringing him to the Bronx means giving up on some highly valued prospects. The Yankees are likely reluctant to part with them, especially if it includes George Lombard Jr.

Moreover, their rotation consists of one of the best trios, with Cam Schlittler, Max Fried, and Gerrit Cole all healthy and pitching. Carlos Rodon is on the IL but is expected to return soon. Ryan Weathers, as a number five starter, is also reliable. But Skubal can likely make the difference between a championship-winning team and a team with a deep postseason run.

“Their biggest concern is that Skubal will go elsewhere, and again, that’s thinking like a team that doesn’t just want to make the postseason, wants to go far into the postseason,” Hannah Keyser observed, per SNY Yankees. “So yes, I mean, if they could prevent him from going to the Dodgers without having to give up all that prospect capital and end up with an embarrassment of riches, some might say, on the pitching staff, they would do that, but they can’t.”

But the Yankees also have multiple core players scheduled to become free agents at the end of this season. Trent Grisham, Jazz Chisholm, and Paul Goldschmidt are all on their walk years.

With that, the Yankees front office needs to decide whether they want the World Series or to keep the prospects.