Report: 'No chance' Pirates trade Skenes
Published
It's been a difficult start to the season for the Pittsburgh Pirates, which has led to speculation about the long-term future of ace Paul Skenes.
However, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Pirates still view Skenes as a key building block and have no plans to even explore trading the star right-hander.
"No chance, no way, no how," a Pirates source reportedly told Heyman of the possibility of Skenes being dealt.
Heyman reports that while there is a bit of logic to the scenario given Skenes' extremely high-value and the Pirates' prolonged struggles, star players are not normally traded by any team with just one year of service time. Heyman adds the Pirates remain determined to build around the 22-year-old right-hander.
Pittsburgh enters play Wednesday with the second-worst record (16-33) in the National League behind the Colorado Rockies (8-40) and fired manager Derek Shelton earlier this month. Unless they turn things around drastically, the Pirates are on their way to missing the postseason for the 10th straight year.
Skenes, 22, has two more seasons before he's even eligible for arbitration and is scheduled to be under team control through the 2029 season. After winning Rookie of the Year last season, Skenes is off to another strong start in 2025, turning in a 2.44 in 10 starts with 62 strikeouts in 62.2 innings pitched. Skenes was 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 23 starts as a rookie last season after making his MLB debut last May.
Skenes was the top pick out in the 2023 MLB Draft out of LSU and made his big-league debut less than a year later.