Pirates determined to waste Paul Skenes prime and trade him in three years, probably

The Pittsburgh Pirates are one of the most baffling and frustrating teams in Major League Baseball.

Pittsburgh is a great sports town, blessed with a top-tier stadium in a beautiful area of downtown. The Steelers have set the standard of excellence for PGH sports. One might expect the Pirates to follow suit.

Instead, the Pirates are constantly undermining their own success. The 2024 campaign was a prime example.

Paul Skenes finally made his MLB debut and was instantly electric, finishing with a 1.96 ERA and 0.95 WHIP across 23 starts. He started in the All-Star Game, won NL Rookie of the Year, and finished third in Cy Young voting.

It was a special season. Skenes is a sensation, the likes of which we don't often get in baseball. For the first time in ages, the Pirates were appointment viewing. What did Pittsburgh do with this sudden influx of attention and the productivity of a genuine superstar on the mound? Not much at all, finishing dead last in the NL Central at 76-86.

Skenes led an excellent starting rotation, but the Pirates were plagued by bullpen woes and held back by the NL's third-worst offense in terms of runs scored. Rather than addressing those longstanding weaknesses at the trade deadline, Pittsburgh mostly stood pat and let its season fall apart down the stretch. It was unforgivable.

Now, the Pirates threaten to screw over Skenes — and their fans — again with a ludicrous approach to the offseason trade market.

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Jared Jones is 'very available' as Pirates consider worst possible offseason timeline

Every MLB contender wants pitching. It's a fact of life these days. Even the deepest rotations aren't quite complete. The Phillies wanted Garrett Crochet. The Dodgers wanted — and got — Blake Snell. So, naturally, Pittsburgh dealt 25-year-old RHP Luis Ortiz to the Guardians in a trade that brought back Spencer Horowitz — a real live hitter!

The motive behind the trade made sense, and the Pirates are in a prime position to translate their pitching depth into meaningful offensive upgrades. Ben Cherington and the front office should absolutely peruse the marketplace.

A fine line exists, however, between taking advantage of a rabid market and kneecapping your pitching staff. According to Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates made 23-year-old ace Jared Jones "very available" in trade talks prior to the Ortiz deal. His availability may or may not change now that Pittsburgh has dealt a starter, but even floating Jones to opposing teams is patently absurd.

Jones finished an impressive rookie season with a 4.14 ERA and 1.19 WHIP across 22 starts. He wasn't quite as dominant as Skenes, but the righty sure looked the part of a foundational pillar to develop alongside Skenes.

To put him up for sale with three years of team control left on his contract is incomprehensibly dumb. The Pirates have a special 1-2 punch to build their rotation around. Skenes and Jones should be the foundation upon which the next generation of Pittsburgh baseball is built.

Odds are, however, the Pirates will continue to operate as cheaply as possible, perpetually kicking the can down the road and never committing. At some point, Skenes will get close enough to free agency to spook a Pirates front office that will never, in a million years, dish out the funds necessary to sign a pitcher of Skenes' caliber in this climate.

We all know how this ends, and that sucks. Pittsburgh fans deserve more than what Ben Cherington, Bob Nutting, and the Pirates are willing to offer.