Pirates respond to Paul Skenes trade buzz in what could be ploy to drive up price

Are we to believe that the Pittsburgh Pirates are seriously considering trading away reigning National League Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Award finalist Paul Skenes? Much of the baseball world has pushed the conversation to an uncomfortable potential reality for Pirates fans.

Ever since ESPN's Jeff Passan said on the Pat McAfee Show that there's "an argument to be made" that the Pirates should trade Skenes if they aren't going to extend him or surround him with competitive players, speculation of a potential move has run rampant through the baseball world. Unsurprisingly, however, this speculation appears to be wishful thinking on the part of rival teams' fans.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post spoke to an unnamed Pirates source who told him, "No way, no chance, no how," when asked about the possibility of the team trading Skenes. Heyman also pointed out that "superstars aren't just traded by anyone" after one year of Major League service time and that the Pirates "remain determined to build around Skenes."

Ben Cherington has since responded to the speculation and emphatically shot down any Skenes trade possibility. Then again, he did say the Pirates "can and will play better," but that just isn't true based on what fans have witnessed since 2019.

While the Pirates have done absolutely nothing in the last year to back up the claim they plan to build around Skenes, it was admittedly never a real possibility that a Skenes trade was imminent. The Pirates still have four and a half seasons of team control remaining over the 22-year-old All-Star, and frankly, there isn't a realistic trade scenario in the world that would net them enough value in return for Skenes at his current price point, unless another team was willing to give up around double what the Padres traded to the Nationals for Juan Soto.

Report about Paul Skenes trade buzz could be ploy for Pirates to drive up price eventually

Skenes made his MLB debut less than a year after the Pirates selected him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft and immediately proved that he deserved every bit of the hype that surrounded his name. He was the National League's starting pitcher in the All-Star Game last season, secured 23 of 30 first-place votes in NL Rookie of the Year balloting, and finished third in NL Cy Young voting in one of the most dominant rookie seasons by a pitcher in baseball history.

Since debuting last year on May 11, Skenes leads all MLB pitchers with a 2.12 ERA. He ranks 14th in innings pitched (195 2/3) and fourth in strikeout rate (30.6%). If he stays healthy and continues on his current trajectory, he will shatter records in arbitration, and again in free agency. He is currently set to hit the open market heading into his age-28 season, at which point it seems likely that he will become the highest-paid pitcher in history.

For this reason, an eventual trade of Skenes feels inevitable for the notoriously stingy Pirates. But they're not going to move him now, when he is one of the best pitchers in baseball and earning just over league minimum. Skenes' price tag will only continue to increase once he becomes arbitration eligible in 2026-27, and that will be when a trade becomes more plausible.

The fact that the trade buzz is starting early only helps the Pirates' cause in a few years when they are actually seeking a monumental return for Skenes. For now, though, he's not going anywhere.

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