PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates are reeling, and just about everything is on the table for a last-place team that has already fired its manager and packed a half-decade’s worth of public-relations missteps into two months.
Well, except for one thing: trading ace Paul Skenes.
Asked on Thursday if flipping the reigning National League Rookie of the Year is a consideration for a club woefully lacking in impactful position-player prospects, general manager Ben Cherington gave an atypically brief response.
“No, it’s not part of the conversation at all,” Cherington said flatly.
The Pirates entered a four-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers already 11 games out of playoff position, thanks in large part to an offense that ranks last or next-to-last in nearly every major category: from runs, slugging percentage and OPS (all 30th) to home runs and batting average (both 29th).
The Pirates also have scored four runs or fewer in 26 straight games, tying a major-league record set by four other teams, most recently the then-California Angels in 1969.
Not exactly what the team had in mind during spring training, when everyone from Cherington to Skenes to manager Derek Shelton — who was jettisoned two weeks ago and replaced by Don Kelly — talked about the need for the Pirates to take another step forward after consecutive 76-86 seasons.
Instead, they have been stuck in reverse from opening day, even when Skenes starts. The Pirates are just 3-5 in his eight starts, the latest loss a 1-0 setback in Philadelphia last weekend in which Skenes limited the Phillies to three hits while throwing the first complete game of his career.
Skenes, who turns 23 next week, has been all-in on the Pirates since being called up a year ago. He’s also under team control for the rest of the decade and won’t become arbitration-eligible until after 2026, making him one of the biggest bargains in the majors.
While the Pirates have locked down players such as two-time All-Star outfielder Bryan Reynolds and third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes to long-term deals, they are a pittance by MLB standards compared with what Skenes might command one day should his career continue on its current trajectory.
The Pirates are perennially one of the most frugal teams in the majors. Their opening-day payroll this season was just under $88 million. Only the Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, the Athletics and Miami Marlins spent less.
Even so, the Pirates have received little return on their investment. While the bullpen has been a bit of a mess, the starting rotation has been solid. Skenes (2.44), Mitch Keller (3.88), Andrew Heaney (2.91) and Bailey Falter (3.50) all have ERAs under 4.00, yet they also have a combined record of 11-21.
The issue has been a punchless lineup that is largely nondescript outside of Reynolds, franchise icon Andrew McCutchen and center fielder Oneil Cruz.
Yet it’s telling that while the Pirates have one of the deeper pool of pitching prospects in the majors — a list that includes hard-throwing 22-year-old Bubba Chandler and Mike Burrows, who was scheduled to make his first major-league start Thursday after going 2-1 with a 2.71 ERA in Triple A — the cupboard of homegrown position players who are on the cusp of the majors remains pretty bare five-plus years into Cherington’s tenure.
Catcher Henry Davis, the No. 1 pick in the 2021 draft, remains a work in progress nearly two full years after his major-league debut. Second baseman Nick Gonzales, a first-rounder in 2020, is recovering from an ankle injury and has yet to establish himself as an everyday player. Former first-round picks Termarr Johnson (2022) and Konnor Griffin (2024) are still years away.
So far, the only call-ups from Triple A have been mostly injury-related, not performance-related.
“We want guys from Triple A to pound the door down,” Cherington said. “That would be good. I still think that can happen this year. We want more of it over time. … Everybody knows we’ve got to score more runs. That’s not going to happen just by saying it and hoping for it. You’ve got to do the work to do it.”
Cherington remains optimistic that the team will start to turn the corner, and he’s certain Skenes will be a part of it no matter which way it goes.
“We’ve just got to get better,” Cherington said. “Let’s play better baseball, and that’s going to lead to winning more games. Then, let’s wake up and see where that takes us when we get to July.”