Paul Skenes trade rumors: Pirates GM insists they won't trade 23-year-old ace this MLB offseason
Skenes isn't set to hit free agency until after 2029, but that hasn't stopped teams from calling
By
Dayn Perry
•
1 min read
Pittsburgh Pirates young ace and National League Cy Young favorite Paul Skenes will not be traded this offseason. At least that's what general manager Ben Cherington said at the annual general managers meetings on Tuesday. While noting teams have been asking about Skenes' Status, Cherington told reporters, including the Athletic, "Paul Skenes is going to be a Pirate in 2026."
The 23-year-old former No. 1 pick out of LSU has cut a swath through the majors since his callup in May of 2024. In that debut season, he posted a sub-2.00 ERA across 23 starts and for his efforts started the All-Star Game for the NL and earned NL Rookie of the Year honors. In 2025, he's been perhaps even more dominant:
Skenes on Wednesday night is expected to be named NL Cy Young winner for 2025. For his young career, he's pitched to a 1.96 ERA (217 ERA+) with 386 strikeouts in 320 ⅔ innings. It's one of the most dominant starts to a career of any pitcher in MLB history, and it's of course possible Skenes hasn't yet reached his peak. This, of course, is not the kind of talent a team trades away, at least when that talent has just two years of MLB service time. Still, the trade speculation has been dogged surrounding Skenes because of his excellence, the long-standing refusal to invest in the on-field product by Pirates owner Bob Nutting, and -- very much related -- the Pirates' history of losing.
Skenes isn't eligible for free agency until after the 2029 season, and even in his arbitration years he's going to be sharply underpaid relative to his worth. Trading Skenes with multiple years of team control remaining would fetch the Pirates a motherlode of young(er) talents, but if one or more of them develops into a star, then the dance will repeat. There may come a time before Skenes reaches his walk year offseason of 2028-29 that the Pirates decide to trade him, but that time has not yet come. In the meantime, the rumors will persist, but until further notice no such blockbuster is happening, according to the exec who takes those calls about his generational right-hander.
