Paul Skenes’ salary milestone shows how quickly he’s changed baseball

Firmly in the conversation of the best pitcher in baseball alongside Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes is nearing historic company despite being just two years into his major-league career.

As such, the Pirates found him worthy of a raise heading into his final pre-arb season, giving him the largest salary ever awarded to a player prior to arbitration (not including those who sign extensions): $1,085,000.

While a salary just north of $1 million may not sound like much in the grand scheme of things, it does make Skenes just the third player in MLB history earn seven figures in a pre-arb season. That's a largely performative measure by a team, since they're not obligated to pay such players on the active roster more than the league minimum (set for $780,000 in 2026).

Skenes joining the company of Mike Trout (2014) and Kris Byrant (2017) is certainly a strong endorsement from the Bucs, and one that could mean something down the road as Skenes mulls his MLB future. For the price of a few hundred thousand dollars, that's not a bad way to earn some goodwill.

Pirates give Paul Skenes historic pre-arb salary, but it may not matter in the long run

It's worth noting that the Los Angeles Angels (Trout) and Chicago Cubs (Bryant) had varying success in terms of trying to keep their stars long term. Trout wound up sticking around in Anaheim, signing a 12-year extension worth $430 million that was, at the time, the largest contract in professional sports history.

Bryant, meanwhile, rejected multiple extension overtures from the Cubs, including an offer worth more than $200 million. There was some animosity baked into his relationship with the team prior to that — Chicago blatantly manipulated his service time during his rookie year to eke out another season of team control — but the Cubs couldn't bring him back to their side with a historic pre-arb salary.

Of course, things are a little different now, as Skenes isn't simply dependent on his MLB salary for income. Thanks to his victory in the Cy Young Award race, he set the record for pre-arb bonus pool rewards, earning $3.4 million for his performance in 2025 alone.

It's also worth noting that the Pirates obviously aren't the big-market clubs that the Angels and Cubs are. Prior to extending Trout, the former's largest contract in team history was worth $254 million (Albert Pujols); likewise, the Cubs had already given Jason Heyward $184 million before making their offers to Bryant. Meanwhile, the biggest deal in Buccos history barely crosses the nine-figure threshold (Bryan Reynolds, $106.5 million).

So, yeah, this nice gesture doesn't necessarily mean Skenes will give the Pirates a hometown discount in free agency. Luckily, he won't reach that moment for a few years, giving Pittsburgh a chance to make some real noise in the playoffs while they have control over their young ace.