The only reason the Yankees should consider trading Spencer Jones

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Yankees are right to be uber cautious about trading multi-talented center fielder Spencer Jones.

As the deadline approaches, Jones remains the key guy other teams seek in trade . However, the Yankees should keep Jones unless they can somehow pry away one particular All-Star — and that All-Star is very likely to stay where he is.

In what would be a major deadline coup, if the Yankees can land Cy Young favorite Tarik Skubal of the Tigers for a package including Jones, go for it.

But if it’s either of three other outstanding All-Star pitchers — White Sox starter Garrett Crochet, A’s reliever Mason Miller or Marlins reliever Tanner Scott — as good as they are, the Yankees should probably pass.

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The Yankees declined to part last spring with Jones for star White Sox starter Dylan Cease, and even Juan Soto, who eventually came for quite a haul. So that’ll give you an idea of what they think of him.

The Yankees are more focused on the bullpen, and that’s no surprise. But if they can land Skubal, no prospect should be untouchable. He’s that good.

But while there have been trade rumors regarding the left-handed Skubal (who leads MLB starters with a 4.5 WAR and 2.41 ERA), it seems like a major long shot that the improving Tigers would part with him two-plus years before free agency. “No way,” surmises one involved person. (Of course, stranger things have happened at the trade deadline.)

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For his part, Skubal suggested he wouldn’t mind staying.

“I try not to think about it too much,” Skubal said about a potential trade. “I love playing for the Tigers.”

Meantime, the hard-throwing Crochet, who’s been linked to the Dodgers, Padres and Orioles, as well as the Yankees , has a good chance to be dealt, the 103.7-mph-throwing Miller with five years of control left has an outside chance to be dealt (better chance than Skubal) and Scott is all but gone. They are all terrific, but they aren’t Skubal.

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Crochet is amazing in his own way. His previous innings high was 54 ¹/₃ and he’s on pace for about 200 now (when I mentioned that to him, he corrected me, pointing out the jump is even greater since he threw just 12 ²/₃ innings last year). And yet, Crochet, who leads MLB with 150 strikeouts, said, “Who’s to say we should limit the innings?”

Miller’s about the most dominant closer going, isn’t a free agent until after 2029 and would allow the Yankees to move their All-Star closer Clay Holmes into a set-up role. Same goes for Scott, a rental sure to go. However, it’s unwise to surrender a big-time prospect for a reliever, even a great one.

The most obvious reason to hold onto Jones, 23, is his extraordinary talent . Yes, the 37.1 percent strikeout rate is a concern, but recall that the great Aaron Judge had a 44 percent strikeout rate his first (partial) year in the bigs before becoming the game’s best position player.

Jones has exceptional power (although of course no one can match Judge there) and he’s among the very fastest players in baseball. So the skill set is enviable.

That’s the biggest reason to hold onto Jones, of course. But the other one is that superstar right fielder Juan Soto and starting left fielder Alex Verdugo are free agents, and there’s no guarantee free agents return — no matter how much they like playing in pinstripes.

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