The Pittsburgh Pirates are off to such a bad start this season that questions about the future of Paul Skenes have circulated.
The Pirates won on Wednesday to improve to 17-33, which has them as the fourth-worst team in the league. They seem to be so far away from contention that people have wondered whether it would make more sense for the team to trade Skenes in order to bring in a haul of prospects.
On Wednesday, New York Post reporter Jon Heyman posted on X to address the matter. He said that he communicated with a Pirates source who said a trade of Skenes was not happening.
“No chance, no way, no how,” a source reportedly told Heyman about a possible Skenes trade.
Pirates source: Paul Skenes is not getting traded. “No chance, no way, no how,” is the way I heard it. While there’s a bit of logic to such a scenario, superstars just aren’t traded by anyone with 1 year service time and the Pirates remain determined to build around Skenes.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) May 21, 2025
Trading Skenes this early in his career would be the ultimate bad message to send to Pirates fans. Skenes has already proven to be among the best pitchers in MLB, and he is a big attraction when he pitches. If the team were to trade him, there would likely be a fan revolt, as it would call into question the team’s goals and long-term plans. The team’s owner already has taken plenty of heat from the fans as is.
Skenes went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA last season. He won NL Rookie of the Year and made the All-Star team despite not being with the Pirates for the full season.
This year, Skenes has gone 3-5 with a 2.44 ERA over 10 starts with 62 strikeouts in 62.2 innings. He has additional appeal thanks to his popular girlfriend, which is another deterrent to trading him.
The Pirates still have several years with Skenes under team control to turn things around before they would need to seriously consider trading him. Skenes is not scheduled to become a free agent until after the 2029 season.
