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Latest On Pirates’ Deadline Plans

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The Pirates are 22-37 to this point in the season, leaving them with the second-worst record in the National League ahead of only the lowly Rockies. They’re already 11.5 games back of a Wild Card spot and 14.5 games behind the Cubs in the race for the NL Central crown. It’s hard to imagine them turning things around quickly enough to avoid being sellers at this year’s trade deadline. That led to plenty of buzz on social media speculating about the possibility of Pittsburgh brass listening to offers on star right-hander Paul Skenes, but reporting has unequivocally dismissed that notion.

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale confirmed this morning that the Pirates are “flatly rebuking” interest from rival clubs in Skenes and fellow young star Oneil Cruz, but he did report that the front office will at least listen to offers on the rest of their roster. It’s a sensible stance for the club to take. After all, Skenes and Cruz are both exciting young players with superstar potential and plenty of team control remaining: Cruz is controlled for three seasons after this one, while Skenes is controlled for four. With the rest of the club’s most prized players either out for the season (Jared Jones) or still in the minor leagues (Bubba Chandler), listening on the rest of the roster throughout the summer could allow the Pirates to best position themselves to improve for 2026 and beyond.

It should be noted that just because the organization is willing to listen on a player does not mean a deal coming together should be expected. The Pirates have plenty of other assets that are both intriguing and under longer-term control that they would surely be hesitant to part with for anything less than an impressive return. Right-hander Mitch Keller and lefty Bailey Falter are both controlled through the end of the 2028 season (the same length of time as Cruz) and have emerged as affordable and reliable rotation pieces in recent years. That sort of talent is difficult to part with, even for a club as deep in exciting pitching talent as the Pirates.

Speculatively speaking, it’s not hard to imagine the Pirates only being willing to part with those pieces if they were able to receive a similarly-talented player with a comparable team control who better fits the club’s needs in return, as was the case when they swapped Luis Ortiz to the Guardians for Spencer Horwitz this past winter. Much more likely to be moved on the pitching side of things are shorter-term pieces like Andrew Heaney, Caleb Ferguson, and David Bednar. MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently discussed the Pirates’ pitching staff in a piece for Front Office subscribers that provides a more detailed look at the players Pittsburgh could consider moving.

On the hitting side of things, Nightengale specifically floats two names as possible trade chips: outfielder Bryan Reynolds and third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes. Both are under long-term team control after previously signing eight-year extensions with the team: Reynolds is in the third year of a deal that runs through 2030 with a club option for 2031, while Hayes is in the fourth year of a deal that runs through 2029 with a club option for 2030. Perhaps that would make them seem likely to be off-limits for a team that surely hopes to contend while Cruz and Skenes are still in town, but it’s not hard to see why the Pirates may be more willing to part with them.

Both are owed significant guaranteed money—no small factor for an organization with Pittsburgh’s payroll constraints—and neither has quite lived up to the expectations placed on them when their deals were signed. Hayes is an elite defender at the hot corner and has shown the ability to be a three-win player with even average offense in the past, but he’s been dogged by injuries throughout his career and is hitting just .229/.283/.285 (58 wRC+) over the past two years. Reynolds is already in his age-30 campaign, is a poor defender restricted to the outfield corners, and has hit just .264/.332/.442 (109 wRC+) over the past three seasons. He’s even been below average (87 wRC+) this year, and while his expected numbers remain strong it would be understandable for the Pirates to move on if they received a return they were satisfied with.

Even as the Pirates are likely willing to listen to offers on both players, however, there are plenty of obstacles to trading either one. Hayes will still be owed $36MM (including a $6MM buyout on the 2030 club option) after 2025, and while that’s hardly an exorbitant sum it’s difficult to justify taking on that expense and surrendering a meaningful return for a player who hasn’t been more than replacement level since 2023. Reynolds is a more productive player, but he’s owed more than $77MM on a contract that runs through his age-35 season and is already showing signs of decline. Unless the Pirates are interested merely in clearing salary off their books and a willingness to accept a relatively weak package in return, the team would surely be better off waiting for Hayes and Reynolds to improve—or at least for their contracts to become less onerous as more gets paid down—in order to trade them.

Even if Hayes and Reynolds appear unlikely to exchange hands this summer, that doesn’t mean the Pirates have no one to dangle on the hitting side of things. All parties surely want Andrew McCutchen to retire in Pittsburgh, but Isiah Kiner-Falefa is a pending free agent who has put together a solid enough season (108 wRC+) to attract plenty of interest. Tommy Pham and Adam Frazier are also pending free agents, but have struggled this year and may not garner much outside interest. One other intriguing option would be moving catcher Joey Bart, who has hit .256/.341/.406 (109 wRC+) in a Pirates uniform but could be moved if Pittsburgh is ready to pass the torch to Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez.

MLBTR Podcast: Bregman Injured, Marcelo Mayer Called Up, And Pirates Talk

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Should the Orioles trade Félix Bautista at the deadline? (29:35)
  • What are the chances the Giants could sign Kyle Tucker this offseason? (35:10)
  • Are the Cardinals for real? (40:35)
  • Does Kevin Alcántara of the Cubs get traded this summer? (48:10)
  • The Dodgers have 14 pitchers on the injured list. Does this reflect poorly on the club’s training and conditioning? (51:15)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Bob DeChiara, Imagn Images

Which Arms Could The Pirates *Actually* Trade This Summer?

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This week's report that there's "no chance" the Pirates trade ace Paul Skenes, just one and a half seasons into his six-year window of club control, stood out as fairly obvious for most onlookers. That anyone felt it needed to be said at all was more a reflection on the organization as a whole than Skenes himself.

Pittsburgh has taken a step back this season, sitting on pace to win 56 games after winning 76 games in both 2023 and 2024. A rebuild that has seen the Bucs pick ninth or better in five consecutive drafts, including No. 1 overall in 2021 and 2023, has not only failed to produce a contender -- it's failed to even produce a farm system that ranks in the top third of MLB. The team at Baseball America ranked the Pirates with MLB's 16th-best system prior to this season. Keith Law of The Athletic did the same. MLB.com's trio of Jim Callis, Jonathan Mayo and Sam Dykstra ranked the Bucs 14th. ESPN's Kiley McDaniel was more bearish, ranking them 20th.

The Pirates already fired manager Derek Shelton. General manager Ben Cherington can't feel as secure as he did a few seasons ago. Owner Bob Nutting bears the brunt of the blame; his refusal to invest in the roster leaves the front office and coaching staff zero margin for error. Nutting's overwhelmingly frugal nature also leaves veritably no chance that Skenes will be signed long-term.

Just because a trade at some point down the road feels inevitable, however, does not mean it'll happen this year. That's never seemed likely, and while the "no way, no chance, no how" quote was from a Pirates executive who preferred to remain anonymous rather than place their name on those words, GM Ben Cherington soon offered a similar sentiment on the record.

The Pirates, for all their warts, are still a pitching-rich organization. The name at the very top of the pyramid may not be on the move, but the Pirates will have no shortage of pitchers who are legitimately available this summer. There's always a broad range of "availability." Pure veteran rentals will probably be aggressively shopped. Pitchers signed/controlled through 2026 will presumably be available but with a higher price tag. And there will be some arms with even more club control on whom the Bucs will listen but not outright dangle to contenders seeking to bolster their own staffs.

Let's run through some of the likely available inventory.

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Report: “No Chance” Paul Skenes Will Be Traded This Year

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Amid the Pirates’ awful start to the season and decision to fire manager Derek Shelton, there’s been some speculation on the possibility of the Bucs blowing things up and again refocusing on building up the farm system. Specifically, many fans have begun to wonder about the possibility of the Pirates dangling the final four and a half seasons of control over reigning NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young finalist Paul Skenes. Unsurprisingly, there’s no real chances of that happening in 2025. Jon Heyman of the New York Post spoke to an unnamed Pirates executive who flatly told him, “No way, no chance, no how,” when the possibility of a Skenes trade was broached.

Any and all talk of a possible Skenes swap has been little more than wishful thinking from fans of other clubs. Much of the rumbling stems from ESPN’s Jeff Passan recent appearance on the Pat McAfee Show (video link). Passan never suggested a trade was likely or even plausible but opined that there’s at least “an argument to be made” that it’d be the right call, given the team’s immediate fall from postseason contention, their inability to score runs, and the unlikelihood of owner Bob Nutting spending to either surround Skenes with competitive players or to extend the team’s ace. Passan rightly pointed out that there will be teams asking about Skenes at this year’s trade deadline. Interest from other clubs is a given, but a trade has never seemed like a real possibility.

Skenes, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft, made his MLB debut less than one year after being selected and immediately cemented his place among baseball’s top arms. He started the All-Star Game for the NL last season, secured 23 of 30 first-place votes in NL Rookie of the Year balloting, and finished third in NL Cy Young voting. Since debuting last year on May 11, Skenes leads the majors with a 2.12 ERA. He ranks 14th in innings pitched (195 2/3), fourth in strikeout rate (30.6%), fourth in differential between his strikeout and walk rates (24.3%), third in FIP (2.54) and fourth in SIERA (2.89).

Skenes is already an ace in virtually every sense of the word. The Pirates were presumably hoping that by holding off his call to the majors until mid-May, they could strike the balance between having Skenes help improve on their 2023 win total (76) and keep him out of the big leagues long enough to prevent a Rookie of the Year win and that would grant him a full year of service regardless of his promotion date. Neither worked out. Skenes got that full year of service by virtue of his Rookie of the Year win, and the Pirates finished the 2024 season with the same 76-86 record they produced in 2023.

Because Skenes secured that full year of service, he’ll be controllable for “only” six seasons. He’s under Pirates control through the 2029 campaign. Had he missed out on the full year, that would’ve been pushed back to 2030.

If he stays healthy and continues on his current trajectory, Skenes figures to shatter records in arbitration. He’d reach arb eligibility in the 2026-27 offseason and go through the process three times before reaching free agency in the 2029-30 offseason. Barring an injury or unexpected decline, he’ll have a case for a mammoth contract in free agency — perhaps the largest signed by a pitcher. He’ll hit the open market heading into only his age-28 season.

Extending Skenes right now would already require the largest contract in Pirates history by a wide margin. Pittsburgh has never given out a contract larger than Bryan Reynolds’ seven-year, $100MM extension. Skenes would more than double that on an extension and could even triple that commitment. It’s virtually unfathomable to think Nutting would ever pay that much for a single player. As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, the Pirates have only spent a combined $357MM in extensions dating back to 2016. They’ve spent even less in free agency; their combined free agent spending dating back to the 2011-12 offseason totals $302MM (Contract Tracker link).

Given the Pirates’ penurious spending habits, an eventual trade of Skenes feels like an inevitability — just not in the near term. Moving their ace while he’s still earning scarcely more than the league minimum simply doesn’t feel rooted in reality. One could argue that Skenes’ trade value will never be higher, and there’s some inherent truth that as he incrementally inches toward free agency, the diminishing amount of club control will impact his value. However, trading Skenes at any point when he has multiple years of control remaining would net the Pirates a monumental return — perhaps on par with or even exceeding the Nationals’ outrageous return for Juan Soto. The gap between the trade value of four years of Skenes and two years of Skenes is not as large as the gap between two years of Skenes and one year of Skenes.

As Skenes’ price tag climbs in arbitration, a trade will become more plausible. For the time being, even with the 2025 season all but lost, the Bucs understandably plan to hang onto their ace. He’s surely a draw for ticket sales and merchandise, and if the Pirates have any designs on a more competitive roster in 2026, it’s surely built around a pitching staff that can be anchored by Skenes, Mitch Keller, top prospect Bubba Chandler and a collection of talented, controllable arms that also includes Mike Burrows, Thomas Harrington, Braxton Ashcraft, Hunter Barco, Bailey Falter and Johan Oviedo.

Players Linked To Union Discord Replaced In MLBPA Subcommittee Vote

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Back in March, disagreements within the Major League Baseball Players Association led to a battle for power within the union that was often framed as a mutiny or a coup. At that time, three active players were connected to the overthrow attempt: Jack Flaherty, Lucas Giolito and Ian Happ. Those three were on the MLBPA eight-player executive subcommittee but none of those three remain after recent voting, per Evan Drellich of The Athletic.

MLBTR readers who want a full refresher on the situation can check out these posts from March. The 2023-2024 offseason was miserable for players, as various teams dialed back spending, often citing declining TV revenue as the reason. Several players signed contracts that were far below initial expectations, most prominently the “Boras Four” of Blake Snell, Matt Chapman, Jordan Montgomery and Cody Bellinger.

On the heels of that winter, frustration boiled up within the players and they eventually appeared to be split into two camps. One camp attempted to replace deputy director Bruce Meyer with Harry Marino, and it was suggested by some that executive director Tony Clark also would have been ousted in the event Meyer was replaced. Ultimately, those efforts stalled out and the Clark/Meyer duo stayed atop the union’s leadership structure.

Marino had previously been the head of Advocates For Minor Leaguers, the group that unionized minor league players. The minor leaguers were placed under the MLBPA umbrella, with Marino and Meyer then negotiating with MLB the first ever collective bargaining agreement for minor league players. Minor leaguers received 34 of the 72 seats on the MLBPA executive board, but Marino and Meyer reportedly did not get along, with Marino leaving the union at some point.

Though Marino was out of the union, it seems he was well liked enough in some circles that this attempt was made to install him into a very prominent position. Despite the frustrating winter for players, Meyer had made some notable gains for players in the 2022 CBA, his first in this role. The competitive balance tax tiers all went up, though a fourth tier was added. The minimum salaries were also raised in notable fashion, and a bonus pool for pre-arbitration players was created, among other advancements for players.

Regardless, the frustration was real and significant enough to threaten Meyer and perhaps Clark in the leadership structure, though they ultimately survived. Back in March, Flaherty seemed to express regret about the way things played out, though he also seemed surprised by the way Marino proceeded.

“There was one phone call that went on that I put Tony in a bad position in, where Harry tried to push his way through,” Flaherty told Ken Rosenthal at the time. “He tried to pressure Tony, and Tony stood strong, said this is not going to happen. Tony has done nothing but stand strong in all of this. That was something I would love to take back. I never wanted Harry to be in Bruce’s position.” Flaherty repeated that he was not trying to replace Meyer. “I said he’s not somebody to replace Bruce, but if you guys want to listen to him, we can continue this conversation. Things got way out of hand after that.” Flaherty then went on to compliment Meyer for the job he had done with the recent CBA.

The MLBPA votes on those subcommittee spots every two years. The union announced this week a new subcommittee consisting of Chris Bassitt, Jake Cronenworth, Pete Fairbanks, Cedric Mullins, Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, Marcus Semien and Brent Suter. Semien and Suter are the lone holdovers from the previous subcommittee.

As noted by Drellich, the subcommittee is significant because key matters are often settled with a 38-person vote. Each of the 30 teams have a representative with one vote, and the eight subcommittee members get the remaining eight votes. Those 30 team reps vote on the eight subcommittee members. The eight players selected this week will have their positions for the next two years, which aligns with the end of the current CBA, as that agreement goes until Dec. 2, 2026.

All relations between MLB and the MLBPA have appeared to be contentious in recent years, from CBA negotiations to the COVID-related shutdown to on-field rule changes. The most recent CBA involved a lockout of more than three months and came perilously close to canceling games. On the other hand, the two sides agreed in the middle of the 2024 campaign to redirect some CBT money towards teams that had lost broadcast revenue, a fairly rare instance of a notable financial decision made outside normal CBA talks.

With another round of collective bargaining due two years from now, the possibility of another lockout is also on the horizon. The league and the union will have plenty to work out, including the ongoing broadcast uncertainty, the international draft and other big-picture issues along with the typical bargaining topics like salaries, taxes and revenue sharing. As such, the developments within the union will have notable ramifications for the baseball world.

Chris Sale Wins National League Cy Young Award

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Braves left-hander Chris Sale has been named the National League Cy Young Award winner for 2024, per an announcement from the Baseball Writers Association of America. Zack Wheeler of the Phillies finished in second place with Paul Skenes of the Pirates in third place.

The award is the final cherry on top of a remarkable comeback season for Sale. He had a run from 2010 to 2018 of being one of the best pitchers in the majors, but struggled in 2019 and then was in the injury wilderness for quite a while. Due to various ailments, including Tommy John surgery, he only pitched about 150 innings total from 2020 to 2023.

The Red Sox flipped him to Atlanta almost a year ago, in December of 2023. The move was seen as risky at the time, as Sale was going into his age-35 season and was several years removed from his prime.

On top of that, Atlanta sent Vaughn Grissom to Boston in the deal, a notable prospect who still had years and years of cheap control. In return, they were getting just one year of Sale, though they did sign him to an extension that covered 2024 and 2025 with a club option for 2026. That extended their window of control over him, but at a fairly hefty price point: $38MM for the two guaranteed years plus $18MM for the option.

But so far, the deal has been incredibly lopsided in favor of Atlanta. Grissom was injured for much of 2024 and didn’t perform well while healthy. For Atlanta, most of their key contributors got hurt this year while Sale ironically stayed healthy, in spite of his recent track record.

Sale finished the season having made 29 starts and thrown 177 2/3 innings, allowing 2.38 earned runs per nine. He struck out 32.1% of batters faced, only gave out walks 5.6% of the time and got grounders on 44.8% of balls in play. He won the pitching triple crown by leading the National League in ERA, wins and strikeouts. His tally of 6.4 wins above replacement from FanGraphs was easily the most in the majors this year, with Tarik Skubal of the Tigers second at 5.9 fWAR.

Despite his previous dominance, this is actually Sale’s first time taking home the hardware. Per MLB’s Sarah Langs on X, Sale is the first pitcher to finish top five in Cy Young voting in five straight years, fall outside the top five for five straight years immediately after, followed by a return to the top five. He is also (X links from Langs) the first pitcher to have six previous top five finishes and later win the award, in addition to being one of the five oldest pitchers to win for the first time.

Sale got 26 of the first place votes (full vote tallies from the BBWAA), with the other four going to Wheeler, who logged exactly 200 innings over 32 starts with a 2.57 ERA. Skenes already won Rookie of the Year award earlier this week but this further cements what an amazing season he had. Other pitchers getting votes were Dylan Cease, Shota Imanaga, Logan Webb, Michael King, Hunter Greene, Ryan Helsley, Cristopher Sánchez, Reynaldo López, Sean Manaea and Aaron Nola.

Paul Skenes Wins National League Rookie Of The Year, Earns Full Year Of Service Time

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Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes has been voted the National League Rookie of the Year for 2024, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced. Outfielder Jackson Merrill of the Padres finished second while outfielder Jackson Chourio of the Brewers finished third. The Pirates will not earn a PPI bonus pick from this result but Skenes will earn himself a full year of service time despite his late call-up.

Skenes, now 22, has made a quick rise to being one of the top pitchers in the sport. As of a year and a half ago, he was still pitching for Louisiana State University. The Pirates selected him with the first overall pick in the 2023 draft, with many viewing him as about as close to MLB-ready as a draft pick could be.

The Bucs let him get his feet wet as a professional, putting him into five minor league games late in 2023, but never letting him throw more than two innings in any of those. There was some speculation that he could crack the Opening Day roster in 2024 but the Pirates decided to build him up slowly. He was started in Triple-A but with his outings mostly kept around three or four innings.

Despite the kid gloves, Skenes proved it was time to break free, posting a 0.99 earned run average in those minor league outings. That got him promoted to the majors in May, less than a year after being drafted.

His relatively young age and lack of professional experience were easily overwhelmed by his incredible talent. Flashing a triple-digit fastball, a devastating “splinker” and several other pitches in his arsenal, Skenes went on to toss 133 innings over 23 big league starts. In that time, he had a 1.96 ERA, 33.1% strikeout rate, 6.2% walk rate and 51.3% ground ball rate. He produced 4.3 wins above replacement in the eyes of FanGraphs, placing him tenth among all pitchers in the majors this year, despite tossing fewer innings than everyone ahead of him.

The timing of his call-up and this victory are both noteworthy. The collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players features measures designed to encourage top prospects being promoted, the prospect promotion incentive, and also to disincentivize service time manipulation. If a player is on certain top 100 prospect lists and is promoted early enough in the season to earn a full service year, that player can earn his club a bonus draft pick depending on awards voting. On the flip side, if such a player is not promoted early enough to get a full year but managed to finish top two in Rookie of the Year voting regardless, that player earns himself a full year of service retroactively.

Had Skenes been promoted earlier in the year, this award would have netted the Bucs an extra draft pick. But since he was held down into May, they were not eligible to receive that pick. Skenes, on the other hand, will now have a full year of service time. That is significant for him as he is now slated to reach free agency after the 2029 season, his age-27 campaign. Under previous collective bargaining agreements, his free agency would have been one year further into the future.

Merrill was eligible to net the Padres a PPI bonus pick and likely would have done so in any other year. He just had the misfortune of competing against Skenes in the voting. Per the BBWAA, each of the 30 votes had Skenes and Merrill in the top two, 23 of them putting Skenes first and seven of them going for Merrill.

The fact that it was even close indicates how impressive Merrill was this year. A shortstop prospect with no Triple-A experience, Merrill moved to center field just this year to help the Padres fill a vacancy at that spot and hit the ground running. He got into 156 games for the Friars, hitting 24 home runs, stealing 16 bases, slashing .292/.326/.500 and getting strong grades for his glovework.

There was a case that Merrill deserved the award more than Skenes since his performance was over a full season, and clearly a handful of voters did lean that way, but ultimately not enough to get Merrill over the line. Despite the incredibly impressive performance, he comes up just shy of getting the trophy while the Padres come up just shy of getting a bonus draft pick.

The third place votes were split between just two players, as Chourio got 26 of them and Shota Imanaga of the Cubs got the other four. Chourio hit 21 home runs and stole 22 bases, slashing .275/.327/.464 while providing solid outfield defense. Imanaga tossed 173 1/3 innings over 29 starts for the Cubs with a 2.91 ERA. In many other years, those two players could have won the award, but they were instead relegated to nabbing a few third-place votes due to the stunning seasons of Skenes and Merrill. Players like Masyn Winn and Joey Ortiz also had excellent seasons but couldn’t even get any votes due to how strong the competition was in the National League this year.

Pirates Notes: Skenes, Bednar, Hayes

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After a difficult season that saw the Pirates flash signs of life in the first half with a 48-48 record before crashing to a 28-38 record after the All-Star break, Pittsburgh GM Ben Cherington discussed a few of the club’s key players as they team now looks ahead toward the 2025 campaign and the coming offseason.

Chief among those was like NL Rookie of the Year favorite Paul Skenes. For all of the club’s faults this year, Skenes was the most obvious bright spot as he was nothing short of dominant practically from the moment he made his big league debut back in May. In 23 starts from then on, Skenes posted an eye-popping 1.96 ERA with an excellent 2.45 FIP. With a 33.1% strikeout rate across his 133 innings of work, Skenes was perhaps the most dominant pitcher in all of MLB this year. The one flaw in is otherwise dominant rookie campaign was volume, as Skenes threw just 160 1/3 innings of work in total this year between the major and minor leagues. That includes eight starts where Skenes failed to pass 80 pitches in his outing.

Fortunately, that seeming unwillingness to have Skenes pitch deep into games faded as his season continued, with the right-hander ultimately throwing more than 100 pitches in six of his 23 big league outings. What’s more, Cherington told reporters (including Alex Stumpf of MLB.com) that the hard-throwing righty could find himself unleashed completely next year. Cherington indicated that the Pirates do not currently plan on “any sort of hard limits” on Skenes’s innings or pitch counts headed into 2025, leaving the door open for Skenes to post an even stronger season next year should he be able to post something close to this season’s results over a full slate of 30 starts. The righty figures to headline Pittsburgh’s rotation next year, followed by Jared Jones and Mitch Keller. There’s some uncertainty at the back of the club’s rotation behind those three, but Johan Oviedo, Luis L. Ortiz, and Bailey Falter could all be in the mix for starts as well.

Looking beyond the rotation, Cherington notably also offered a vote of confidence in longtime closer David Bednar, who struggled badly throughout the 2024 campaign and was eventually removed from the closer role in late August. Bednar’s results improved over the month of September but his peripheral numbers remained shaky, as he posted a solid 3.38 ERA but walked (ten) more batters than he struck out (nine) across 10 2/3 innings of work. That left Bednar with an overall ERA of 5.77 on the year, and while his 4.80 FIP offered some reason for optimism even that figure was still worse than average as it was held back by a 10.7% walk rate.

Given Bednar’s brutal performance and a fairly considerable $6.6MM salary projection for next season courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the club explore moving on from Bednar this winter. If that possibility is on the table, however, Cherington did not acknowledge it. On the contrary, Stumpf notes that Cherington suggested Bednar could even recapture the closer’s role in time for 2025. Even in spite of Bednar’s poor performance, such an outcome would hardly be a shock. After all, the club has few proven relievers under team control besides Colin Holderman and Bednar dominated to the tune of a 2.25 ERA with a 2.56 FIP over the 2021-23 seasons. If Bednar can even come close to that sort of production next year, he’d be well worth the $6.6MM investment via arbitration.

Now turning to the positional side, Cherington also provided a small update (as relayed by Stumpf) on third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes. A former top-of-the-line infield prospect who enjoyed something of a breakout campaign in 2023 where he paired excellent defense with a roughly league average at, Hayes appeared sure to join Skenes, Jones, and Oneil Cruz among the club’s core this season. Instead, injuries derailed Hayes’s year completely. He was limited to just 96 games by a disc problem in his back that sent him to the injured list twice this year and left him playing through pain for the majority of the year when he was on the field. The injury marred campaign led to disastrous results, as Hayes hit just .233/.283/.290 in 396 trips to the plate alongside defensive numbers that were a far cry from previous seasons.

Difficult as 2024 was for Hayes, however, Cherington expressed optimism about the infielder’s status as he looked ahead to 2025. The GM acknowledged that there’s “always some level of concern” regarding an injured player until he’s once again on the field, but added that he believes the club is better informed about Hayes’s injury situation and that the third baseman is “excited” to return to action in 2025. When Hayes was unable to take the field this year, Jared Triolo and Isiah Kiner-Falefa were the club’s primary options at the hot corner this year. Both players are in line to return to the club next year and could continue backing up the position in the event Hayes struggles to stay on the field in 2025 as well.

Pirates Notes: Skenes, Jones, McCutchen, Rodriguez

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As noted by Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Pirates GM Ben Cherington made his weekly radio appearance on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh earlier today. In that appearance, Cherington suggested that right-hander Paul Skenes is in “good shape” in regards to his innings workload to this point in the season. The star rookie has thrown 108 innings so far this year between the major and minor leagues, just below his career high of 129 1/3 between LSU and the minor leagues last year. Cherington went on to suggest that while the club could consider lowering Skenes’s pitch counts at some point but didn’t commit to that path, instead noting that the right-hander’s intense preparation between starts puts him in a good position to handle volume, and that the club’s focus is on how well he recovers between starts rather than his pitch counts or total innings of work.

That’s surely a relief for Pirates fans, as Pittsburgh will need every inning they can get from their young ace as they look to work their way into the playoff conversation. The Pirates currently sit at a decent 56-54 record after buying at the trade deadline. While they’re six games back of the Brewers for the NL Central crown as things stand, Pittsburgh sits just 2.5 games back in a crowded NL Wild Card picture that also features the Braves, Diamondbacks, Padres, Mets, and Cardinals. Skenes has been a huge part of the club’s resurgence this year, as the club has won nine of the 13 games he’s started for them since debuting in mid-May. Team record during a pitcher’s starts is an imperfect measure of that pitcher’s effectiveness, but it’s obvious that Skenes has helped the Pirates in a big way by posting a sparkling 1.90 ERA in 80 2/3 innings of work in the majors while striking out exactly one third of batters faced entering play today.

Skenes isn’t the only young arm that Cherington commented on, as he indicated that right-hander Jared Jones is “real close” to a rehab assignment at Triple-A following a 45-pitch live bullpen session. Cherington suggested that Jones’s first rehab outing is likely to be of a similar pitch count before moving up from there. Pittsburgh’s other front-of-the-rotation rookie has been on the 15-day IL since Independence Day due to a lat strain, but prior to that injury had looked excellent in his first season as a big leaguer with a 3.56 ERA and a 26.4% strikeout rate in 91 innings of work. Jones’s return to action should not only provide the club with a boost down the stretch, but would offer them a daunting and entirely homegrown playoff rotation alongside Skenes and Mitch Keller should the club manage to make the postseason for the first time since 2015.

While the news regarding Jones and Skenes is undoubtedly positive, a turn towards the lineup yields more mixed results. Veteran slugger Andrew McCutchen is out of today’s lineup after being pulled from yesterday’s game due what the team announced as tightness in his left quad muscle. It’s unclear as of yet whether or not the 37-year-old veteran will require a trip to the injured list due to the issue or not, but a lengthy absence for McCutchen would be a frustrating turn of events for a Pirates club that had just begun to fire on all cylinders in the lineup after adding Bryan De La Cruz and Isiah Kiner-Falefa at the trade deadline. The veteran, who has slashed a decent .228/.328/.383 with a 102 wRC+ as the club’s primary DH this year, could be replaced by Connor Joe or a youngster currently at Triple-A like Edward Olivares in the starting lineup if an IL stint is required. Catcher Joey Bart is DH’ing in today’s game, making room for Yasmani Grandal behind the plate.

Speaking of catchers, Cherington offered some positive positional news today when he indicated that there’s a “chance” that longtime catching prospect Endy Rodriguez could play in minor league games before the end of the year despite undergoing what was thought to be season-ending UCL surgery back in December. Cherington cautioned that any such rehab games would first come at DH and then first base due to the excessive pressure put on a player’s arm by the catcher position, though he didn’t completely shut the door on the possibility of Rodriguez getting time behind the plate before the year comes to a close. The 24-year-old switch hitter hit just .220/.284/.328 in his first taste of the majors last year but is a career .282/.361/.442 hitter at Triple-A who was a consensus top-50 prospect in the game prior to his debut and subsequent injury last year.

Paul Skenes Named Starting Pitcher For National League All-Star Team

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Two months and one day into his major league career, Pirates ace Paul Skenes has been named the starting pitcher for the National League All-Star team. NL All-Star manager Torey Lovullo of the Diamondbacks called into the Dan Patrick Show this morning during an interview with Skenes this morning and informed the 22-year-old of the decision live on the air (video link). Major League Baseball announced the decision shortly thereafter. Skenes becomes the first rookie since Hideo Nomo in 1995 to be tabbed as his league’s starting pitcher for the Midsummer Classic. Coincidentally, that year’s All-Star Game also took place in Arlington — as will be the case with next week’s event.

Skenes, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft, has emphatically announced himself as one of the game’s elite pitchers in short order. The term “meteoric rise” is thrown around perhaps too casually, but it’s appropriate — if not an understatement — when characterizing Skenes’ ascension to his current status. The 6’6″, 235-pound flamethrower was tagged for three runs in four innings in his MLB debut … and has since yielded all of 11 runs over a span of 10 starts and 62 1/3 innings pitched.

Since making his big league debut on May 11, Skenes leads all qualified NL pitchers with a 1.90 ERA and trails only White Sox ace Garrett Crochet (1.84)  for the MLB lead in that regard. Skenes’ mammoth 34.9% strikeout rate also tops all NL pitchers in that span and also trails only Crochet (35.2%) for the big league lead.

Opponents have turned in a pitiful .202/.251/.319 batting line against the former LSU ace in 255 trips to the plate thus far in his big league career. Since making his debut, Skenes is 22nd in the majors in innings pitched, first in strikeouts, has the 10th-fewest walks, and has posted an unbeaten 6-0 record. Remarkably, he’s the only one of 77 qualified starting pitchers in baseball who has not taken a single loss since May 11.

Skenes was controversially pulled from yesterday’s outing in Milwaukee after firing seven no-hit innings and punching out 11 of the 23 hitters he faced along the way. The right-hander was at 99 pitches, and the Pirates opted to take a cautious approach with their burgeoning superstar rather than soar past his current career-high 107 pitches in pursuit of that potential personal milestone. Now, Skenes will make a different kind of history when he toes the rubber next week in the sport’s ultimate midseason showcase.

The dominant debuts of not only Skenes but teammate Jared Jones have transformed the Pirates’ rotation and long-term outlook. Pittsburgh controls both pitchers for more than a half-decade — Skenes through at least 2030 (pending Rookie of the Year voting), Jones through 2029 — adding a pair of high-octane arms to join Mitch Keller (3.40 ERA in 111 1/3 innings) atop the team’s rotation for the foreseeable future. Keller signed a five-year, $77MM contract spanning the 2024-28 seasons during spring training.

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