Paul Skenes Wants to Stay with Pirates, Win World Series
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes is only in his second season at the MLB level, but many don't see him staying much longer with the franchise.
Trade talks surrounding Skenes grew this month following a poor start from the Pirates, which saw Derek Shelton dismissed after a 12-26 start on May 8.
The Pirates are currently 18-34 overall, 13.5 games behind the Chicago Cubs in first place of the National League Central Division, 11.5 games behind the San Diego Padres in the final NL Wild Card spot and possess the fourth worst record in the MLB.
MLB Insiders and national baseball writers spoke on having little faith that the Pirates can build around Skenes and give him a winning team that can contend for a World Series.
While not all have argued that the Pirates should trade Skenes, few believe that they can extend him or have an idea of how to truly support him.
The Pirates, themselves, haven't provided much run support this season, scoring 31 runs over his first 10 starts.
Skenes would throw his first complete game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on May 18, only allowing three hits, a walk and an earned run, while striking out nine batters, tying his season-high.
The Pirates offense scored no runs, as Skenes went a season-high eight innings, taking a loss in the 1-0 loss.
Skenes dominated again in his most recent start vs. the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park on May 23, allowing four walks, one walk and an earned run, while posting seven strikeouts.
He didn't get the win, but the Pirates offense did come through later on, erasing deficits and taking a 6-5 victory in extra innings.
Skenes spoke to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette following that start and still has desires of making the Pirates a competitive team, getting them to the postseason and winning the World Series.
"When I got drafted, I came in with the intention of winning a World Series here," Skenes said to Mackey. "That hasn’t changed. I don’t think my days here are numbered by any means."
Skenes also doesn't care for the recent trade talks and that he's ignoring the, as he doesn't believe he's leaving anytime soon.
"It doesn’t make any difference with the [trade] talks," Skenes said. "I’m not going anywhere, I don’t think. I have to figure out how to continue to improve this place."
Skenes is 3-5 on the season in 11 starts, 18 earned runs over 68.2 innings for a 2.36 ERA, 70 strikeouts to 18 walks and an opposing batting average of .190.
He is coming off a 2024 campaign where he started for the NL in the All-Star game, won Rookie of the Year, earned All-MLB First Team honors and finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting.
The Pirates also possess four more seasons of club control of Skenes after 2025. He's currently getting paid around the MLB miminum, $765,000 for 2025, which he'll get paid next year and then have three years of salary arbitration.
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington also spoke at a recent press conference, where he said that team has no interest in trading Skenes.
