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The Pittsburgh Pirates are off to such a bad start this season that questions about the future of Paul Skenes have circulated.
The Pirates won on Wednesday to improve to 17-33, which has them as the fourth-worst team in the league. They seem to be so far away from contention that people have wondered whether it would make more sense for the team to trade Skenes in order to bring in a haul of prospects.
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On Wednesday, New York Post reporter Jon Heyman posted on X to address the matter. He said that he communicated with a Pirates source who said a trade of Skenes was not happening.
“No chance, no way, no how,” a source reportedly told Heyman about a possible Skenes trade.
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It would be the worst thing to do to Pirates supporters to trade Skenes this early in his career. Skenes is a popular attraction when he throws and has already established himself as one of MLB’s top pitchers. There would probably be a fan backlash if the team traded him because it would raise doubts about their long-term objectives. The owner of the team has already received a lot of criticism from the supporters.
Skenes went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA last season. He won NL Rookie of the Year and made the All-Star team despite not being with the Pirates for the full season.
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This year, Skenes has gone 3-5 with a 2.44 ERA over 10 starts with 62 strikeouts in 62.2 innings. He has additional appeal thanks to his popular girlfriend, which is another deterrent to trading him.
The Pirates still have several years with Skenes under team control to turn things around before they would need to seriously consider trading him. Skenes is not scheduled to become a free agent until after the 2029 season.
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