A recent report claimed that current Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes “wants to play for” the New York Yankees, in part because Skenes has “no confidence the Pirates ever are going to win” with him in their rotation.
On Thursday night, Skenes was named the unanimous National League Cy Young Award winner. He was later asked about whether or not he’s hoping to be traded to the Yankees sooner rather than later.
Paul Skenes wants to help Pirates become a winner
“I got shown the tweet and really didn’t think anything of it,” Skenes explained, as shared by Bridget Hyland of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. “I got some texts about it. I’m on the Pirates. My goal is to win with the Pirates. I love the City of Pittsburgh. The fans are hungry to have a winner in Pittsburgh, and I want to be a part of the group that did that. I think about it the same way as when I was at the Air Force Academy. We had never been to a conference championship, and my sophomore year, we ended up winning the conference. We had never finished in the top four in the conference before that.”
The Pirates haven’t participated in the playoffs since 2015, and local media members routinely blast the club’s ownership for an overall lack of spending on talent. While there’s no indication the Pirates will ever offer Skenes the type of long-term big-money contract he deserves, ESPN’s David Schoenfield noted the 23-year-old is under team control through 2029.
Thus, the Pirates may reject even a so-called “‘Godfather’ offer” for Skenes this winter.
“Pittsburgh, the way that fans see us outside of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh is not supposed to win,” Skenes continued. “There are 29 fan bases that expect us to lose. I want to be a part of the group, a part of the 26 guys that change that.”
Paul Skenes directly addresses Yankees report
For an article published on Nov. 12, Randy Miller of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com reported that an unnamed Pirates teammate said Skenes is “‘hoping for a trade’ well before he can become a free agent after the 2029 season.” That same teammate is convinced Skenes wants to feature for a Yankees team that has the resources to make his financial dreams come true.
“I don’t know where that came from,” Skenes said. “The goal is to win. I don’t know the reporter that reported it. I don’t know the player that supposedly said that, but the goal is to win, and the goal is to win in Pittsburgh.”
Barring a shocking development, Skenes will be tasked with winning games as a member of the Pirates through at least the 2026 season.
