MLB Insider Claims Yankees Tried to Trade for Paul Skenes During 2025 Season

Paul Skenes found his name in several trade speculations last year as the Pittsburgh Pirates struggled once again.

MLB Insider Claims Yankees Tried to Trade for Paul Skenes During 2025 Season

Paul Skenes (Image via X/@UnderdogMLB)

Just as the 2026 season got underway, speculations regarding the future of Paul Skenes have once again started. As per insider Jon Heyman, the New York Yankees tried to trade for the Pittsburgh Pirates star at last season’s trade deadline.

Skenes, the No.1 draft pick in 2023, has had a dominating start to his MLB career. In 2024, he was named the National League Rookie of the Year after he went 11-3 in 23 games.

Last season, he was the starting pitcher for the Pirates on Opening Day. The youngster picked up the 2025 season from where he left the 2024 one and once again gave a huge challenge to the opposition batters.

In 32 starts, he went 10-10 with a 1.97 ERA and 216 strikeouts. This saw him win the National League Cy Young Award in just his second season in the big leagues.

During the 2025 campaign, there had been lots of reports regarding the future of Skenes. While he was strong on the mound, his team’s offense often failed to provide the run support and lost several games. This led to speculations regarding the team trading him away.

In a recent article for the New York Post, MLB insider Jon Heyman expressed that the Yankees did, in fact, try to bring in the 23-year-old to the Bronx last season. As per the report, the team were prepared to give up 4 top prospects in exchange for Skenes on the trade deadline day.

In the offseason in November last year, a report from Randy Miller of NJ.com expressed that Skenes had told one of his teammates that he wanted to play for the Yankees. The report also claimed that the anonymous teammate expressed that Skenes had no confidence in the Pirates.

Skenes would later hit back at this report. While speaking in a Zoom meeting via 93.7 The Fan, the right-handed pitcher revealed that he had no idea where this report had come from.

The Pirates currently have team control over Skenes until the 2029 season. He will be eligible for free agency after the 2029 campaign. If the NL Central team has another poor season, they could be open to trading him and enhancing the team with some prospects.

Paul Skenes had a disastrous Opening Day start against the New York Mets

After being the starting pitcher on Opening Day last year, Paul Skenes would get this opportunity once again this year. However, the 2-time MLB All-Star had a disastrous showing against the New York Mets on Thursday.

Paul Skenes
Paul Skenes (Image via AP)

The Pirates took the lead early on. Following a single from Oneil Cruz, Brandon Lowe would smash a 2-run home run to give his side a 2-0 lead in the first inning.

Skenes started off the game by giving up a walk to Francisco Lindor. A single from Juan Soto followed by a sacrifice fly from Bo Bichette made it a 2-1 game.

The pitcher then gave up a single to Jorge Polanco before walking Luis Robert Jr. to load up the bases. Cruz would then make two massive fielding mistakes.

First, he would misjudge the flight of a fly ball from Brett Baty. The ball would fly over his head towards the center field, allowing the Mets to cash in 3 runs through an RBI triple.

On the next play, Cruz made the same mistake again. He once failed to catch a regular fly ball. This allowed Marcus Semien to get an RBI double on his Mets debut and make it 5-2 game.

While Skenes struck out Carson Benge for the second out, he then hit Francisco Alvarez. This led to the Pirates making a pitching change and replacing Skenes with Yohan Ramirez. The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner threw just 37 pitches and gave up 5 runs on 4 hits.

The Pirates ended up losing 11-7 and started the season with a loss. This marked a second straight year where they lost on Opening Day while having Skenes on the mound. They will look to bounce back from this defeat on Saturday and avoid losing the very first series of the year.

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