The Pittsburgh Pirates are going nowhere for yet another year, but they control baseball’s top young pitcher in 22-year-old Paul Skenes, the 2023 No. 1 overall draft pick. With one of MLB’s lowest payrolls on an annual basis and owner Bob Nutting, the heir to a fortune made in the newspaper industry, showing no signs of doing anything to change that anytime soon, Skenes’ departure from the Pirates appears inevitable.
Nutting is an owner who once renovated the team’s weight room with $8 million taken from player payroll funds. So the idea that he would he pay Skenes — who is projected by experts to command a $400 million payday when he hits free agency after the 2029 season — to stay in Pittsburgh seems unlikely to say the least.
“The Pirates are a team held in such low regard that fans of other teams get excited when Pittsburgh has a young talent, as they know that in just a few years, that player will be available in a trade or as a free agent,” wrote Dan Freedman of the financial magazine Forbes, in a 2024 report. “Does any knowing fan truly believe that Paul Skenes will be pitching in black and gold when he turns 30?”
‘Never Say Never’ on Skenes Trade
At the same time, 2029 is still a long way off. Rumors that Skenes would be available on the trade market as early as this, his sophomore year, have flown wildly for much this season. But MLB insider journalist Ken Rosenthal shut those down last week.
Because he really needs another nasty pitch. 🙄
“I do not see it happening this year,” Rosenthal said in a recent interview. “Paul Skenes is under control for four more years after this one. The Pirates have many problems, but I don’t know that trading Paul Skenes is the way to do it.”
Or did he? Another MLB expert, former general manager of the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals Jim Bowden — now a writer for The Athletic — isn’t so sure.
“Never say never,” Bowden wrote for The Athletic on Wednesday. “When it comes to baseball trades, anything can happen.”
Bowden proposed a trade that would make MLB’s top starting staff even better — by adding Skenes to the New York Mets’ rotation.
Mets starters own the best staff ERA in baseball at 2.91 — even after starter Griffin Canning coughed up three earned runs in three innings to the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday.
Yet the Mets still trail the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League East by two games.
Mets Surrender Four Top Prospects in Trade Pitch
How would the Mets extract Skenes from the Pirates, according to Bowden? The key piece of the package would be New York’s top pitching prospect, 24-year-old Brandon Sproat, who has struggled for the Triple-A Syracuse Mets this year, but is ranked as the 68th overall prospect in the game by MLB Pipeline.
5.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 5 K
The trade would also send shortstop Jett Williams, outfielder Carson Benge, and first baseman Ryan Clifford — the Mets’ first, third and fifth ranked prospects, respectively — to Pittsburgh for Skenes, along with No. 2-ranked Sproat.
“Sproat could effectively replace Skenes in the Pirates’ rotation immediately, while Benge, Clifford and Williams would give them a trio of bats who would improve their lineup in the long term,” Bowden wrote, adding that pairing Skenes with current NL ERA leader Kodai Senga (1.46) would keep the Mets’ rotation as the best in baseball.
The Mets, of course, would be trading away a large piece of their future by parting with four of their five best prospects. But Mets owner Steve Cohen has shown a willingness to spend at the big league level to make up for a lack of player development and Bowden’s hypothetical Skenes trade would give a Mets franchise that has not taken home a World Series trophy in 39 years a real chance to make a serious run at a championship right away.
Mets Would Bring in Paul Skenes, Cut Ties With Top Prospect in Ex-GM Trade Pitch