The sharks circling the waters right now for Paul Skenes may just have to keep on circling.
Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Ben Cherington spoke with the media on Tuesday during GM meetings in Las Vegas, Nev. During his media session, Cherington made a definitive statement about the future of the Pirates star pitcher Skenes, who has recently been the subject of offseason trade rumors.
“He is going to be a Pirate in 2026,” said Cherington of Skenes, per Robert Murray of FanSided.
Skenes, still only 23, is already arguably the most talented pitcher in all of baseball right now. He is a two-time All-Star, led Major League Baseball in 2025 with a glowing 1.97 ERA, and is looking like the frontrunner to be named the NL Cy Young Award winner later this week.
But Skenes also plays in a small market for a low-payroll team that continues to lose and lose and lose. The Pirates still have not had a winning season since 2018 and just finished this year at a rough 71-91. All of that losing appears to be taking its toll on Skenes as evidenced by some of his blunt quotes over the course of the year.
For now, Skenes is not eligible to become a free agent until 2029 and is not even eligible for arbitration until 2027. But with Skenes’ salary scheduled to rise by the time he hits arbitration, many think that the notoriously tight-fisted Pirates will consider trading him before then. Some powerhouse MLB teams even made trade inquiries for Skenes at this year’s trade deadline.
That said, it is also possible that Pittsburgh could surprise everyone and make a colossal commitment to Skenes. What we know for now though is that the Pirates do not intend to trade away the talented righty during at least the course of this winter.
