Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Former manager Clint Hurdle questioned why one team hasn't secured a long-term deal for their star pitcher Paul Skenes amid playoff contention.
- He pointed to recent extensions for key players as evidence the front office has the resources to act.
- The decision now hinges on potential league-wide changes and the player's own desire to stay long-term.
Winning is the magic elixir and the great silencer, as the Pittsburgh Pirates and Paul Skenes are seeing firsthand.
At 35-33, the Pirates are right in the thick of the NL Wild Card chase. We’ve temporarily stopped discussing when the Pirates may trade Skenes, the reigning NL Cy Young winner and one of the sport’s premier starting pitchers.
Skenes, who turned 24 in May, is yet to sign a new contract. Given that he’s only in his third season, that news shouldn’t stand out at first glance.
However, MLB clubs typically try to extend their top prospects and young superstars on lengthy, team-friendly deals. That hasn’t been the case thus far for Skenes, who is under control through 2030.
Like most baseball fans, former Pirates manager Clint Hurdle is asking himself an obvious question: What are the Pirates waiting for?
“I mean, they found money for Mitch Keller,” Hurdle told Action Network. “They found money for Bryan Reynolds. They found money for Konnor Griffin.”
Will the Pirates sign Paul Skenes to a long-term contract?
For added context, Keller signed a five-year, $77 million extension in February 2024, less than a year after Reynolds received an eight-year, $106 million extension. Pittsburgh inked Griffin to a nine-year, $140 million contract this past April.
Keller and Reynolds had each earned All-Star honors before their extensions, and Reynolds enjoyed a sensational 2021 season. Griffin has contributed 1.5 bWAR and a .729 OPS in over 200 plate appearances, an impressive milestone considering that he only turned 20 in April.
None of those three, though, enjoyed the immediate success that Skenes did upon debuting in May 2024. And, respectfully, neither has the mass appeal with a global audience that Skenes — and, by extension, Livvy Dunne — does.
“If you’re ever going to find money for somebody,” Hurdle said, “this is the guy you find money for.”
Money is only part of the equation, especially ahead of a potential lockout. Few would fault the Pirates if they preferred to hold off on extending Skenes until they see the next collective bargaining agreement and all that comes with it, including a potential salary cap.
We also don’t know whether Skenes genuinely wants to stay in Pittsburgh for the long haul. He’s said all of the right things publicly, and it’s encouraging that he didn’t ask for a trade, considering the leverage he has as arguably baseball’s best pitcher.
The salary cap is the key question, and it’s difficult to fairly project what Skenes could earn in his next contract. We don’t yet know what the salary cap would look like, or how players and teams would each approach contracts.
Barring a disastrous, career-altering injury, Skenes has positioned himself to secure a generational contract. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12 years, $325 million) and Gerrit Cole (nine years, $324 million) are the only pitchers to exceed $250 million, let alone $300 million.
If anyone can clear $350 million, though, it’ll be Skenes. We’ll need to see whether the Pirates follow Hurdle’s advice and pony up whatever it takes to keep their ace around.
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