Paul Skenes, Andrew McCutchen Reportedly Only Pirates Off Limits in MLB Trade Talks

After all the speculation about Paul Skenes' future with the Pittsburgh Pirates earlier this season, the superstar pitcher is one of two players the club reportedly won't consider dealing prior to the July 31 trade deadline.

The Athletic's Jim Bowden noted in a poll of over 40 MLB executives that Skenes and Andrew McCutchen are the only players that haven't been made available by the Pirates.

Bowden also noted that one general manager told him pitchers David Bednar and Dennis Santana are "all but gone" and could be "packaged together" in a trade.

They are untouchable for very different reasons. McCutchen is one of the most beloved players in Pirates history and will presumably finish out his career in Pittsburgh for as long as he wants to continue playing.

A five-time All-Star, McCutchen returned to Pittsburgh in 2023 when he signed a one-year deal as a free agent. He has continued to play on one-year contracts with the Pirates. The 38-year-old is still a decent hitter with a .269/.350/.410 slash line this season.

Skenes became the center of trade speculation in May after ESPN's Jeff Passan made the argument on The Pat McAfee Show the Pirates should try to trade him now because of how high his value is and the near-certainty the club won't sign him to a long-term contract because of how cheap ownership has been.

When asked about the possibility of trading Skenes in the aftermath of Passan's comments, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington told reporters it was "not part of the conversation at all" for the organization.

Skenes is only 14 months into his MLB career and won't become a free agent until after the 2029 season. There is still time for the Pirates to at least try building a good roster around their ace.

The odds of Pittsburgh fully maximizing its window with Skenes leading the rotation are long because the current lineup is one of the worst in baseball and there aren't a lot of high-level hitting prospects coming up through the system.

Even though there will likely come a time when the Pirates trade Skenes because that's how they have historically operated—Gerrit Cole was traded to the Houston Astros in January 2018, two years before he became a free agent—doing so now would qualify as franchise malpractice.

As fascinating as it would be to see what type of return Skenes could get with four full seasons of team control remaining after this season, it never seemed like a practical outcome for the Pirates.