Paul Skenes doubles down with response to Yankees trade rumors

Paul Skenes hasn’t even hit arbitration yet, and he’s already living the full small-market ace experience. Win a Cy Young award, become the face of a franchise starving for October baseball, and almost immediately find your name dragged into fantasy trade machines with the New York Yankees. 

For Pittsburgh Pirates fans who still flinch when they hear names like Gerrit Cole and Tyler Glasnow, the idea of their new homegrown superstar angling his way to the Bronx felt like déjà vu cranked to 11. One anonymous report out of New Jersey was all it took for the rumor mill to catch fire.

Paul Skenes isn’t buying Yankees noise and makes his Pirates priorities clear

A single blurb suggesting Paul Skenes might secretly be eyeing the Yankees spread across social media like a brushfire, with Photoshopped pinstripes and half-baked trade packages popping up before most people even finished the original sentence. In the span of a morning, the narrative jumped from “interesting rumor” to “he wants out” in the way only the internet can manage.

And yet, when you actually look at the story, the foundation is about as sturdy as wet tissue. An unnamed reporter citing an unnamed Pirates teammate, who supposedly overheard Skenes say he’d like to play for the Yankees someday, is the kind of third-hand gossip that would make even the boldest talk-radio caller blush. It’s pure telephone game stuff — great for engagement, lousy for clarity. Still, it landed with a little extra sting in Pittsburgh. 

The Pirates are fighting to change a reputation that they don’t keep their stars and don’t really try to win. Hearing that their young ace might already have one eye on the exit ramp — to one of the sport’s most notorious big-market bullies, no less — was enough to get the entire fanbase on edge.

Skenes didn’t let it linger. On “The Dan Patrick Show,” he swatted the story away and essentially told everyone to move on. He made it clear he had no idea where the rumor came from, called the whole thing untrue, and admitted it frustrated him before he decided it wasn’t worth his energy. 

More importantly, he laid out exactly where his head is at: he wants to be part of the group that changes what people think of the Pittsburgh Pirates, a group that proves this organization is “supposed” to win. In his own words, the goal isn’t just to win, it’s to win in Pittsburgh.

On top of that, general manager Ben Cherington has repeatedly tried to pour cold water on the Yankees chatter, stating flatly that Paul Skenes will be a Pirate in 2026. With team control stretching through the 2029 season, the Pirates hold all the contractual leverage here. They don’t have to trade him. They don’t have to entertain fantasy packages. What they have to do is build a winner around the kind of arm most franchises spend decades trying to find.

That’s where this story really turns. Rumors will keep circling as long as Skenes is this good and the Pirates’ track record is what it is. Big-market teams will always hover, national writers will always daydream about superstars in bigger uniforms, and anonymous whispers will always be out there.

But right now, Skenes is saying the right things, the front office is saying the right things, and the contract realities are firmly on Pittsburgh’s side. The next move is on the Pirates: prove that “the goal is to win in Pittsburgh” is more than a quote and start surrounding their ace with a roster worthy of his prime. If they get that part right, the only pinstripes anyone will care about are the ones on a throwback jersey in the PNC Park stands at a Pirates playoff game.