Paul Skenes shuts down Pirates trade rumors with blunt comments

Emma Lingan

May 23, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes (30) pitches against the Milwaukee Brewers during the second inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Paul Skenes made his MLB debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates just over a year ago. One All-Star nod, one National League Rookie of the Year award and a third-place Cy Young finish later, there is already growing speculation that the Pirates could trade him.

General manager Ben Cherington already attempted to shut down the trade talk last week, saying it's "not part of the conversation at all." But of course, the chatter has persisted; a 19-36 start will do that.

"It doesn't affect anything," Skenes said Friday when asked about the trade rumors (via The Associated Press). "Anybody can play GM."

Admittedly, it would be highly unusual for any front office – even one as incompetent at this one – to seriously consider trading away a generational talent who remains under team control until 2030. But the mock trade proposals make for good content, and the Pirates' continued losing certainly isn't helping matters.

"There's no substance to just all that talk that you hear on social media and news outlets and stuff like that," Skenes said.

Paul Skenes trade rumors will continue to swirl as long as Pirates keep losing

Skenes has been every bit of the ace he was expected to be in his first full major league season, pitching to a 2.36 ERA across his first 11 starts. However, he has a 3-5 record and hasn't recorded a win since April 25, despite registering a 2.32 ERA across all five of his May starts.

In other words, Skenes isn't the reason the Pirates are losing, and it's not hard to figure out what that reason is. While some of the blame rests on the bullpen, Pittsburgh's offense ranks dead last in the league in total runs scored (164); even the Colorado Rockies, who have only managed nine wins this season, have scored more runs (173).

If the Pirates are serious about building a winning team around Skenes, they need to actually ... build a winning team around him. That starts with making some much-needed offensive upgrades, something they failed miserably to do this past offseason.

As Skenes said, anybody can play GM. Maybe Cherington should give it a try sometime.

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Emma Lingan

Emma Lingan is an MLB Staff Writer for FanSided primarily covering the Pittsburgh Pirates. She has been covering baseball for more than a decade dating back to her time as a student at Wake Forest University, and she has won two gold medals as a member of the U.S. National Team delegation (2016 Pan-American Championships & 2017 World Baseball Classic). She is also a credentialed NHL reporter and a member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association. You can follow her @Emma Lingan on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.