Pittsburgh Pirates star Paul Skenes has been the subject of trade rumors ever since he was named the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft.
Baseball fans have thought that the Pirates would be unable
to keep a star like Skenes, so trade proposals get thrown out every once in a while just to see what the price would be if Pittsburgh ever moved on from its best player. Bleacher Report writer Kerry Miller suggested a trade that would send Skenes to the St. Louis Cardinals for infielder JJ Wetherholt, left-handed pitcher Matthew Liberatore, right-handed pitcher Michael McGreevy, left-handed pitcher Liam Doyle and catcher Leonardo Bernal.
“As much as we all loved cooking up possible Paul Skenes trade packages throughout the course of this past season, everyone knows it’s extremely unlikely he’ll get traded, because the sheer cost is almost prohibitive,” Miller wrote.
“Last offseason, Boston gave up a haul of four prospects—including two who were very comfortably regarded as top-100 prospects—for two years of Garrett Crochet (before almost immediately signing him to a long-term extension). But we’re talking four years of team control on what has been a more dominant force on the mound.
“What the Padres gave up for 2.5 years of Juan Soto (and a Josh Bell rental) in 2022 is at least closer to what it would take to get Skenes, and that package was their preseason No. 1 prospect (CJ Abrams), their at-the-time Nos. 1, 3 and 4 prospects (Robert Hassell III, James Wood and MacKenzie Gore) a middling prospect (Jarlin Susana) and Luke Voit, for some reason.
“So, we’ve got the Cardinals giving up first-round picks from each of the 2025 (Doyle), 2024 (Wetherholt), 2021 (McGreevy) and 2018 (Liberatore) drafts, as well as a 21-year-old switch-hitting catcher (Bernal) who could at least do something for a moribund Pirates offense. And even that probably isn’t actually enough to get the Pirates to budge on Skenes.”
The Pirates would need a king’s ransom to even consider the idea of trading Skenes because of what he already brings to the table. He led the league in ERA in just his second MLB season, which is a sign that he could become one of the greats in the game.
The Pirates would be absolutely silly to entertain any kind of offer for Skenes, especially considering the fact that he is still under team control until the end of the 2029 season. The Pirates have until then to field a competitive ball club around Skenes; if it doesn’t happen by then, trade rumors could get louder and a deal may become likelier.
