MLB insider reveals Paul Skenes-Yankees trade package Pirates were smart to turn down

Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Ben Cherington made it painstakingly clear that he had no interest in trading Paul Skenes at the July deadline, but that didn't stop some teams from inquiring about him.

The New York Yankees were reportedly among the teams trying to strike a deal with the Pirates for the reigning National League Rookie of the Year, and Jon Heyman of the New York Post recently reported that they were willing to part with some of their top prospects in a trade.

According to Heyman, the Yankees were willing to discuss offering George Lombard Jr. and Spencer Jones – their No. 1 and No. 3 prospects, respectively – to the Pirates in exchange for the superstar ace. It's unclear whether New York was willing to part with both or just one of them in a trade for Skenes, but either way, the Yankees would have to fork over quite a bit more if they were serious about landing the NL Cy Young frontrunner.

Pirates were smart to turn down Yankees' reported trade package for Paul Skenes

Heyman also reported before the deadline that the Yankees would only consider trading away Jones if it meant they would land Skenes. The 24-year-old outfielder, who is currently ranked the No. 87 prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline, has slashed .271/.358/.567 with 33 home runs across a combined 409 at-bats between Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Double-A Somerset this season.

Lombard Jr., a 20-year-old infielder, is baseball's No. 24 overall prospect and has slashed .236/.368/.383 with nine homers, 48 RBI and 33 stolen bases over 129 games between Somerset and High-A Hudson Valley. With all due respect to both him and Jones, the idea of the Yankees thinking they could get Skenes for a pair of prospects who aren't even in baseball's top 20 headlining a package is, frankly, laughable.

Again, Pittsburgh never had any intention of parting ways with its generational talent at the deadline. Skenes has a 1.92 ERA, 2.52 FIP and 203 strikeouts across 30 starts totaling 178 innings this season, and the Pirates shouldn't trade that for ... well, anything.

Skenes has been one of the lone bright spots for a Pirates team that just clinched its seventh straight losing season while sitting in last place in the NL Central with a 64-83 record. Pittsburgh's most efficient path toward contention would be building a competitive team around Skenes, not trading him away for a massive haul.

Kudos to the Yankees for aiming high in their search for starting pitching. But if they think they have a chance of landing Skenes, they're going to need to improve their farm system pretty significantly.