The Pittsburgh Pirates have been in many headlines recently despite being nowhere close to contention.
In fact, Pittsburgh owned the fourth-worst record in Major League Baseball entering Wednesday at 21-36.
The team’s sheer irrelevance has caused many a media member to wonder aloud if and when the Pirates will trade phenom starting pitcher Paul Skenes.
From a baseball writer’s perspective, Skenes in a big market — or merely on a contending team in any city — would be better for the sport.
But it wouldn’t be better for the Pirates, which is something the club’s management reminded everyone about on Wednesday night, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
“Pirates manager Don Kelly says watching Paul Skenes’ dominance reminds him of his days with the Tigers with Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer,” Nightengale posted to X.
“The Pirates emphasize they definitely are not trading Skenes.”
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New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and other fans of big market teams can stop holding out hope for Skenes (for now, at least).
The former No. 1 overall pick appears to be staying in Pittsburgh for the foreseeable future.
Skenes has a 2.15 ERA this season in 12 starts (75 1/3 innings) pitched for the Pirates.
After a stunning rookie season, Skenes now has a 2.03 ERA and 247 strikeouts in 208 1/3 innings pitched in his young career.
Skenes, set to turn 23 years old on Thursday, was an All-Star in 2024 — his first MLB season — and was named National League Rookie of the Year. While the trade rumors are interesting to dream about, Pittsburgh would be out of their minds to cut ties with an asset like Skenes anytime soon.
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