Pirates’ Paul Skenes gets major confidence boost from Jeff Passan

Passan was then asked if the Pirates are waiting so they can have another year of control for Paul Skenes, but he said that has already passed.

“No, they’re already passed the day,” Passan said on The Pat McAfee Show. “… Paul Skenes is nasty, he absolutely should be with the Pirates now. And I think it’s probably going to happen sooner than later. The next deadline to hold him down would be until like June, if you want to keep him from getting an extra year of arbitration, which is gonna bump his salary by you know potentially over the course of the four arbitration seasons, like $10 plus million. So if you want to save that much, we do know that ownership. If you tell them they could save $10 million potentially, they’re gonna do the best they can to save that $10 million.”

The Pirates are expecting Skenes to be a part of the plan for the long-term, but he could provide a boost this season. The biggest thing will be not overworking Skenes, who is still just 21 years old, especially with the uptick in arm injuries to pitchers this past year or so.

Paul Skenes could boost Pirates’ hot start

Skenes is viewed as a potential front line starting pitcher at the major league level, and any team could use that. The Pirates could especially, as they are off to a good start this season.

After splitting a four-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pirates will head into a series on the road against the New York Mets with an 11-5 record. The Pirates got off to a hot start last year, then tailed off, so it remains to be seen how sustainable this is, but there is some young talent on that team.

Skenes could add to that list of young talented players in the very near future. It will be interesting to see if he gets the call soon, or if the Pirates keep him in triple-A to avoid the extra year of arbitration, as Passan alluded to.