MLB Exec Says Paul Skenes Would Net 'As Significant a Trade Return as We’ve Ever Seen'

It may seem unthinkable to trade arguably the best pitcher in baseball who is just 22 years old, hasn't even hit arbitration and has four-plus seasons of team control remaining on his contract, but the Pittsburgh Pirates would certainly get a haul if they did decide to move Paul Skenes.

"Their return would likely be as significant a trade return as we've ever seen," a National League executive said, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com . "Though I see little reason to do that before next Trade Deadline [in 2026]."

Things are rather bleak for the Pirates at this point. They haven't made the playoffs since the 2015 campaign, haven't advanced past the NL Division Series since 1992 and sit in last place in the NL Central at 17-33. They even already fired manager Derek Shelton this season.

Skenes has been a bright spot in an otherwise dismal campaign seeing how he has a 2.44 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 62 strikeouts in 62.2 innings, but the team is just 3-7 in his starts with a whopping total of 14 runs in those seven losses.

Never was the difference between star player and supporting cast clearer than his last start on Sunday when he allowed one run and three hits while striking out nine in eight innings of work in a 1-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

There isn't a ton of immediate help on the horizon either, as the Pirates are not an organization that typically competes with the major markets for marquee free agents. MLB.com ranks their farm system as a solid-but-unspectacular 14th-best in baseball, so there isn't even a large group of young players who can turn things around alongside Skenes.

Perhaps the front office would consider moving the 2024 NL Rookie of the Year for an extraordinary return that would restock that farm system with a core of players who could be the foundation of the next contender in Pittsburgh.

B/R Walk-Off produced a thread of potential deals for Skenes that underscores the type of talent the Pirates may be looking at in a trade:

Yet even with all that talent, there shouldn't be much rush given Skenes' contract situation.

"Even if you’re 100% rational about this, if you move him, aren't you conceding that you're not going to contend until 2030?" an American League executive said, per Feinsand. "I'm sure you could get a haul, but is that haul going to help more than he would?"

Significant deals will still be there in future seasons, so it would be something of a surprise if the Pirates made him available in 2025. Still, there are plenty of teams that would likely love to take Skenes off their hands.