Only asset-rich teams can tempt the Pirates to let go of Paul Skenes. And right now, the New York Yankees might not look like one. True that it would be a baseball fairy tale to experience Skenes playing for the Yanks, aiming for October glory. ‘Cause the Pirates, anyway, have a pattern of valuing trading over championships.
Well, the Yankees would’ve been one of the first to call the shots for the generational arm. After all, it’s Skenes, the young 22-year-old phenom built to dominate for years to come.
This 2025 season, Skenes sits with a 2.63 ERA across 54.2 innings. This league hasn’t seen a rookie like him in years. Last season, his ground ball rate was somewhere around a nasty 51.3%. Now, under Bob Nutting’s ownership approach, who is apparently okay being “mediocre” in the league and not making any effort to keep once-in-a-generation kinds of stars like Skenes, the Pirates would likely trade him before his contract ends and he becomes expensive.
And in such a scenario, a team like the Yankees would be the first to knock on the door, right? But unfortunately, they don’t have a suitable farm system anymore. A trade like Skenes comes with a hefty price. Almost half a billion dollars, as predicted by ESPN’s Jeff Passan. If you remember, the Yankees had already depleted their trade assets when they got Juan Soto from the San Diego Padres.
They traded 5 prospects to get Soto and also outfielder Trent Grisham. Right-handers Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Jhony Brito, and Randy Vásquez, along with catcher Kyle Higashioka, went to the Padres in this deal. While Juan Soto received $23 million in salary from San Diego, and reportedly earned over $30 million in arbitration from the Yankees.
Yes, it was a necessary move for a generational hitter; there’s no denying that. But it was rather a win-now attempt, which is now haunting the team as Soto signed with the New York Mets after just one year at the NYY. It’s almost like the Yankees gave all the chips away for free, having nothing to offer to the Pirates for Skenes.
The idea of getting Skenes in Yankeeland is dead. Of Course, unless Brian Cashman is willing to lose young, promising pieces like Ben Rice, Jasson Dominguez, or Luis Gil. To say the least, it’s very unlikely to happen.
If not the Yankees, will Skenes land with the New York Mets?
Since the word out there is that Skenes could land with a big-budget team, it might occur to you whether the Mets, with one of the highest payrolls, will try to get Skenes’ elite arm in the lineup.
Skenes has arguably taken the league by storm. When he went up against the Mets on May 12, he praised the team even after getting dominated by them. Specifically, he contended the Mets’ core hitters trio – Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, and Juan Soto.
Skenes reportedly said that for the Mets, even the “bad days” are not actually bad. In fact, in his words, “Their slumps aren’t slumps.” Well, that’s true to an extent. According to Skenes, the Mets have promising players, and he admires them.
Contrary to that, the Pirates certainly cannot build a winning team for Skenes. Even if Skenes aces the pitching side, what about the other factors? With Nutting failing to invest in players, the Pirates are very unlikely to have the winning odds for the rest of the season.
And when it comes to the possibility of the Mets going for Skenes, that seems unlikely, too, just as it is for the Yankees. But that’s for different reasons. For now, the Mets will be focusing on developing their existing arms only. They had injury setbacks, but as their starters are returning to the pitching mound, the team seems more invested there.
So, while Skenes may have several potential suitors, the ONE is still under the shades. While he does see potential in the Mets’ hitters and their overall winning team attitude, no claims can be made for sure. Do you have any inference to draw there? We would love to hear from you…
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