Madden Monday on Paul Skenes: 'If I were him, I'd ask out. I'd want a trade right now'

Tim Benz
Monday, May 19, 2025 6:11 a.m. | Monday, May 19, 2025 6:11 a.m.

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes heads to the dugout after finishing the eighth inning of a game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Sunday, May 18, 2025, in Philadelphia.

The Pirates’ 1-0 loss in Philadelphia (28-18) on Sunday was their third in a row and 13th in 16 tries this month. The Bucs (15-32) have already been shut out a major-league-leading eight times this season.

They were swept by the Phillies, lost five of six games on their road trip through Philly and New York, and have now been shutout eight times in 2025.

And it’s only May 19.

Not only that, but the beleaguered Buccos have now gone 23 straight games without exceeding four runs.

During this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden of TribLive and 105.9 The X said there is no reason to believe that this organization will be able to dig itself out of this mess.

“This isn’t fixable. You can’t call up (pitcher) Bubba Chandler and suddenly they’re good,” Madden said. “You can’t switch this guy to that position, or move around the batting order, and they’re suddenly going to find the magic formula. This team legitimately, historically, stinks.”

The franchise currently has a .319 winning percentage. If you don’t count the coronavirus shortened .317 winning percentage posted by the 2020 group, you’ve got to go back to 1952 to find a Pirates team that tracked this poorly at .273% (42-112).

The Pirates are so bad, they can’t even get wins regularly when Paul Skenes pitches. On Sunday, he threw eight innings and got the loss. That was despite pitching a complete game and allowing just one run on three hits and one walk with nine strikeouts.

The second-year right-hander is now 3-5 despite having a 2.44 ERA. Pittsburgh has lost seven times in Skenes’ 10 starts.

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“He was totally dominant, and the Pirates let him down again,” Madden said. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a pitcher this dominant on a team this bad. I’d have to go back to 1972. The Phillies. Steve Carlton won 27 games for a last-place team.”

Madden blames Pirates owner Bob Nutting for failing to extend payroll so that the Pirates could have a batting order that could occasionally lend Skenes some run support.

“They’ve cheated him. They’ve cheated themselves. They’ve cheated all of us. I understand (Nutting) not wanting to spend money,” Madden said. “He wants to exploit and steal and do everything bad he can in the name of profit. But the one time to spend was the three solid years — or thereabouts — (when) you’ve got this guy, and he won’t even do that.”

Madden wouldn’t blame Skenes if he requested a trade already, despite the fact that he isn’t arbitration eligible until after the 2027 season.

“If I were him, I’d ask out. I’d want a trade right now. I’d want a trade at the deadline,” Madden said. “If I were him, I’d feel embarrassed — and used — to be on a team this bad.”

Also in the podcast, Madden and I discuss the Aaron Rodgers situation with the Steelers, the Penguins coaching search and the NFL playoffs.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.