MLB Insider Deems Pirates Unworthy of Paul Skenes Extension
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates have the best young star in baseball in right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes, but many wonder how long he'll stick around for.
The Pirates currently have five years, including the 2025 season, of club control over Skenes, before he hits free agency and commands likely one of the biggest, if not the biggest, contracts in MLB history.
This includes the first three years, 2024-26, of pre-arbitration, where he will make around the MLB minimum, which is $760,000 for the 2025 season. It also includes three more years of salary arbitration, 2027-29, if the Pirates don't have a contract with Skenes for the following season.
Jeff Passan of ESPN spoke about Skenes on the Pat McAfee show and said that Pirates fans deserve better, but that their ownership, with Bob Nutting at the helm, hasn't shown that he wants to bring those players to contend.
He also said that, because of this, the Pirates don't deserve to extend Skenes and that they should probably trade him at some point so they can get something in return for him when he inevitably leaves.
“It’s not just Paul Skenes who deserves better, it’s Pittsburgh Pirates fans who deserve better and they deserve a system that allows teams to keep great players," Passan said. "Now, in some cases, guys will stay with small market teams."
"We’ve seen that. Bobby Witt Jr. signed for 11 years, $288 million with the Kansas City Royals. Joe Mauer stuck around in Minnesota. There are plenty of instances where guys will stay with smaller market teams."
"But what incentive does Paul Skenes have to extend with the Pirates when the Pirates haven’t shown the willingness from either Bob Nutting all the way down, or the ability to bring in guys who are going to make this team better? The Pirates haven’t shown that they are worthy of a Paul Skenes extension at this point.”
"What it comes down to is the Pirates, including 2025, have five years of club control before he free agency. If they believe they have absolutely no chance of signing him, then they should trade him."
"And you can make the argument that they should trade him now. I’m not going to, because the Pirates, with some of the players that they coming up, they would have a chance to win if they were to go out and actually bring in some offensive players and sign some free agents."
"The truth is, there are already teams that are going to ask about Paul Skenes at the trade deadline this year. I don’t anticipate that he’s going to be moved, but there’s a real argument to be made that the best thing for the Pittsburgh Pirates would be to move Paul Skenes when he has his most value. It’s a depressing reality."
"Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates fans deserve better..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) May 14, 2025
What incentive does he have to extend with the Pirates right now..
The Pirates haven't shown that they are worthy of a Paul Skenes extension at this point" ~ @JeffPassan#PMSLive pic.twitter.com/eCkkgMFb7y
Passan is excited for Pirates pitching prospect Bubba Chandler, the best in the Pirates minor league system and No. 2 overall according to MLB Pipeline, to come up soon, as well as rising pitching prospect in Hunter Barco.
He sees a good potential rotation along with Skenes, Chandler, Barco, plus current starting pitchers in Jared Jones and Mitch Keller, but without the support for better hitters, he doesn't think the Pirates will compete.
“I told you about Bubba," Passan said. "Bubba’s good man. Bubba can play and Bubba Chandler’s gonna be up at some point and if Jared Jones gets healthy, you have a rotation of Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, Bubba Chandler, Mitch Keller, Hunter Barco’s coming. Like it’s a really, really good potential rotation. One that should be able to contend. There’s just not enough help there from the top.”
Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.