Paul Skenes trade talk 'an utterly illogical premise' born from a 'completely logical conclusion': It's the Pirates

Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Ben Cherington appeared to be somewhere between annoyed and bemused by the very question.

Is trading Paul Skenes — less than two full years into his career — a genuine consideration?

“No,” Cherington said Thursday afternoon, “it’s not at all part of the conversation.”

Would #Pirates GM Ben Cherington consider trading Paul Skenes this season? pic.twitter.com/ZnAUod3ld0

— 93.7 The Fan (@937theFan) May 22, 2025

Nor should it be … for any normal franchise.

But this isn’t a normal franchise, is it? These are the abnormally horrible Pirates we are talking about.

This is an underfunded, abhorrently operated, rudderless mess of a cellar-dwelling team. It’s one that subsists on the organizational premise of shipping talented players in trades for future prospects before they get expensive in order to constantly promote the future.

Therefore, why wouldn’t Skenes be a candidate for something like that?

As an unnamed National League executive told Mark Feinsand of MLB.com this week, “Their return would likely be as significant a trade return as we’ve ever seen. Though I see little reason to do that before next Trade Deadline (in 2026).”

Agreed. On both fronts. In fact, with Skenes’ potential, there is little reason to do it at all.

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The former No. 1 pick is a fireballing 22-year-old who just won Rookie of the Year in 2024 and finished third in the Cy Young voting. No normal franchise would ever consider trading such a gem so soon.

But, again, these are the Pirates of Cherington and Bob Nutting.

As the owner, Nutting doesn’t spend enough to put a good team around Skenes. Additionally, Cherington isn’t good enough at his job to make as much out of as little as some other more capable small-market general managers have done in recent seasons.

That includes what his predecessor, Neal Huntington, did here from 2007-19.

Well, OK. At least from 2011-15.

Hey, Ben, don’t get mad at us for asking. The conversation is all over the internet. People think such a move is possible, even though Skenes is under team control through the 2029 season.

Jeff Passan says the Pirates' best course of action might be to trade Paul Skenes and that teams will ask about him at the trade deadline this year.

We haven't even had him for a full season yet. pic.twitter.com/EIsIJqyLkO

— Dom DiTommaso (@DomDiTommaso) May 14, 2025

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

An AL team executive proposed this Paul Skenes trade to great baseball scribe Marc Feinsand:

Paul Skenes

To BOS for

1B Triston Casas
#1 MLB prospect CF Roman Anthony
SS Marcelo Mayer
2B Kristian Campbell
SP Tanner Houk

If possible. The Pirates should 100% do this trade. pic.twitter.com/McsE5wxptY

— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) May 22, 2025

This is the reality wrought by Cherington and Nutting. In Pittsburgh, it’s a world where a long-term ace in a rotation could be considered a legitimate trade candidate before he gets to arbitration because the club that employs him has no interest in building a worthwhile support system around him.

So why not build a batting order — that currently doesn’t exist — by moving Skenes for an overwhelming return?

Granted, a real Major League team would aggressively sign or trade for established help right now to make sure it won with Skenes instead of viewing him as a chip to get the help it needs at so many other positions.

But with the Pirates showing no interest in doing that this offseason, why would the winter of 2026 or 2027 end up being any different?

Sadly, the Pirates’ track record of previous dump-and-replenish moves with top pitchers (see Cole, Gerrit and Musgrove, Joe) lends credibility to the notion that trading Skenes is something more than online fodder.

There’s a history here.

Talk of trading Skenes leads to some completely logical conclusions despite being founded on an utterly illogical premise.

Which, come to think of it, is a perfect way to describe the business model of Pirates baseball in 2025.