Pirates Should Send Dodgers to Paul Skenes in 5-Player Blockbuster Trade, Says Insider

Pittsburgh Pirates superstar Paul Skenes has been the talk of the town recently due to his team's struggles despite his brilliance on the mound. Now, MLB insiders are considering the possibility of the ace being traded to a more competitive team like the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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Skenes is one of the few bright spots in yet another disappointing season for the Pirates, who have fired their manager less than a third of the way through the season, and would be highly sought after if he was placed on the trade block.

Paul Skenes turns 23 today. He has the second-lowest ERA before his 23rd birthday (since ERA became an official statistic in 1912):

Dutch Leonard: 1.86 (1913-14)
Paul Skenes: 2.03 (2024-25)
Babe Ruth: 2.07 (1914-17) pic.twitter.com/joPNa0F3Qh
— MLB (@MLB) May 29, 2025

The Athletic's Jim Bowden proposed several different trades that the Pirates would have to consider, and among them was a package that the Dodgers could hypothetically offer.

The package includes recently called-up catcher Dalton Rushing, outfielder Andy Pages, and two young arms in Jackson Ferris and Landon Knack.

"The Dodgers could offer the Pirates a long-term answer at catcher (Rushing) and a solution for left field (Pages), improving their lineup for this season and years to come. Ferris, 21, isn’t ready for the majors yet, but has the stuff to become a top-of-the-rotation starter if his command and control improve," Bowden writes for The Athletic.

"Knack would slot into the Pirates’ rotation right away, effectively replacing Skenes. On the other side of the trade, the Dodgers’ postseason rotation, if healthy, could be Skenes, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Shohei Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow. Yikes!"

The Dodgers' trade proposal would allow the Pirates to rebuild its depth with quality, providing instant upgrades to its roster with some high upside additions.

That quality of depth is likely worthwhile for the Pirates to trade Skenes for, and it would help the health of the organization's roster.

The issue would be that Pirates fans would likely be crushed to see their new franchise cornerstone leave the team, especially after only seeing him pitch for a short while.

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For the Dodgers, a trade for Skenes would give the team an unprecedented amount of pitching depth in the short, medium, and long term.

He would immediately rival Yamamoto, Glasnow, and Snell for the fight to be the ace, and he is much further along than Roki Sasaki, who remains promising but raw.

Skenes would be cost-controlled for several seasons, and he would likely become one of many faces of the franchise.

We are now 35 starts into Paul Skenes’ MLB career. His stats:

208.1 IP
2.03 ERA
15-8 W-L
247 K’s
0.94 WHIP
.194 BAA
6.6 fWAR

Absolutely generational. pic.twitter.com/0L47TKYHX2
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) May 28, 2025

While losing depth will likely hurt, the Dodgers seemingly have an endless supply of prospects in the pipeline that can help cover the losses of Rushing and Pages.

The Pirates are rumored not to be interested in trading Skenes, seeing him as a building block, though conversation will remain about whether or not that is right approach for a rudderless Pittsburgh team.

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