ESPN's Jeff Passan Confirms Pirates Intend To Continue Ruining Paul Skenes Career

Paul Skenes deserves better. Major League Baseball fans deserve better. But a new report from ESPN's Jeff Passan has all but confirmed that we aren't going to get it, thanks to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Through the first half of the season, Skenes has been one of the best pitchers in baseball, as expected. In 23 starts in his 2024 Rookie of the Year-winning season, he had a 1.96 ERA, a 2.53 expected ERA, and 2.44 FIP. For his first 19 starts in the 2025 season? Skenes has a 1.94 ERA, 2.52 expected ERA and 2.37 FIP. 

It's rare to find that level of consistency and dominance from any pitcher, let alone someone who's just 23-years-old and in his second season. And what have the Pirates done with Skenes' outstanding performance? Wasted it entirely.

READ: Paul Skenes Loves Mowing Grass, Becomes Instant Favorite Of Thursday Night Mowing League

Skenes' record this year is 4-7. With a 1.94 ERA. He's lost two games in which he pitched eight innings and allowed just one run. That's happened not once, but twice. In 19 starts. Because the Pirates offense is an embarrassment, a testament to the willingness of baseball owners to run their organizations as profit centers instead of competitive enterprises.

For neutral fans, for fans of Skenes' talent and ability, it's infuriating to see his talent wasted on an incompetent organization. With the trade deadline just a few weeks away, there'd already been some discussion that the Pirates might be willing to trade him for a generational return. Except Passan just threw cold water all over it.

Pittsburgh Pirates RHP Paul Skenes fires one in vs. the San Francisco Giants at PNC Park in Pennsylvania. (Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports)

Paul Skenes Won't Be Traded, Per Jeff Passan

Appearing on SportsCenter, Passan said that while "29 other teams would love to have Paul Skenes," only the Pittsburgh Pirates will. He continued, saying "they have no desire" and "no intention to trade him." 

Everyone else on the roster, per Passan, is available for the right offer. Except Skenes. Fantastic.

It makes sense; Skenes is a superstar, he's young, he's cheap, and he's one of the few baseball players to have off-field appeal considering his relationship with Livvy Dunne. But fans want to see the best players in the game on the biggest stage, and the Pirates are nowhere near competing for a postseason berth.

Organizational incompetence, a lack of willingness to spend money, poor minor league development, the list of Pirates failures goes on and on. And Skenes is trapped there, at least for the first six-plus years of his career until he reaches free agency. Unless, of course, owner Bob Nutting decides the salaries he'll be owed in his arbitration-years, in the $10-35 million range, make him too expensive to keep.

This is the problem with modern baseball. Not the Dodgers, actively trying to best the best possible product on the field for their fans. Teams like the Pirates that know they can get away with the bare minimum, collect their TV revenue and league-wide revenue sharing, and coast on the back of one star player as long as possible.

It's frustrating, and until owners like Nutting are actually held accountable, it'll continue forever. Unfortunately for us, and for Skenes.