With the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 2025 season going down the drain, fans and media members have begun wondering how long star pitcher Paul Skenes will remain in Pittsburgh.
Although he is in just his second MLB season, Skenes has proven himself to be a star. Unfortunately for him, the roster around him has not helped him out much, evident by the Pirates’ 18-34 record, which is the second-worst in the National League and fourth-worst in the majors.
With Skenes’ talent not being enough to earn the Pirates wins consistently, there have been rumors that Skenes could be traded, which, in theory, could help Pittsburgh acquire numerous highly touted prospects as a part of their prolonged rebuild.
However, Skenes does not seem convinced that the trade chatter around him is legitimate in any way.
“It doesn’t make any difference with the (trade) talks,” Skenes told Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [h/t theScore]. “I’m not going anywhere, I don’t think. I have to figure out how to continue to improve this place.”
Skenes said there is “no substance” to what he characterized as “that talk you hear on social media and news outlets.” Instead, Skenes said he still has his sights set on bringing championships back to Pittsburgh.
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“When I got drafted, I came in with the intention of winning a World Series here. That hasn’t changed,” Skenes said. “I don’t think my days here are numbered by any means.”
For what it’s worth, Skenes being traded anytime relatively soon is highly unlikely. While they very well may do so in a few years, the Pirates will probably not trade Skenes with so many team-friendly years left on his deal.
Skenes is making $875,000 this season, and he will not hit arbitration until after the 2027 season. Even then, it is possible the Pirates would keep Skenes through his arbitration years before finally trading him before he is set to become an unrestricted free agent and sign a massive extension.
The case for trading Skenes now, though, is that his stock is very, very high, and the value of having an All-Star-level pitcher with that much team control is rare. The Pirates could net a large haul if they chose to ship Skenes out of Pittsburgh.
If they did so, the Pirates fanbase, already restless from decades of mediocrity — the team has made the playoffs three times and not reached the NLCS since 1992 — would likely revolt. Skenes is very popular among the Pittsburgh fans, and, as the Dallas Mavericks learned this season, trading away a young, popular, and talented player would not go over well by any means.
