A report from Randy Miller of NJ Advance Media on Nov. 12 said an anonymous Pittsburgh Pirates teammate claimed Paul Skenes had mentioned more than once that he’d like a chance to play for the New York Yankees.
With that information, many are wondering how many losing seasons Skenes will endure with the Pirates before he pushes for a way out of Pittsburgh. Although the national MLB media is running with the speculation, Skenes is doing his best to put out the fire.
During a November 18 appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show,” Skenes addressed the report of an anonymous teammate saying that he wants to play for the Yankees.
“I mean, I was frustrated for a couple of hours and then kind of got over it and talked to the media later that night,” Skenes told Patrick. “It is what it is. There’s stuff that’s going to come out, good and bad. Obviously, it’s not true.”
Moreover, this isn’t the first time Skenes has denied the rumor. On the same night he became the second-youngest unanimous Cy Young Award winner in history, Skenes pushed back on the report that claims he told teammates he wants out well before free agency and, even more pointedly, that he hopes to end up with the Yankees.
Will Paul Skenes Follow the Gerrit Cole Route to the Yankees?
The big-name player in a small market being linked to a bigger market like New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago isn’t a new phenomenon. Additionally, Skenes isn’t the only prominent pitcher that the Pirates have had in the last 15 years, as Gerrit Cole was also in Pittsburgh.
Cole spent five years with the Pirates before being traded to the Houston Astros, then to the Yankees, where he signed in 2020. As a result, many are mapping the same route for Skenes, and he understands that it’s just part of what comes with being a star player in a small market.
“I’m not the first person who’s been through this or done this, and I’m not the last,” Skenes added. “It all comes down to how you look at it. You can be bitter at the world and angry, or you can fight to do what’s right and push to make things better.
“Those are the two paths. The bar only moves one way. It only goes up, but it can go down if you let it. You just have to keep pushing to raise the bar for us in Pittsburgh and for the next player, wherever that may be.”
Paul Skenes Wants to Win With the Pirates
Moreover, Skenes noted that he wants to build something special with the Pirates, similar to what he did at Air Force, where they won a conference championship.
“I think the hardest part of leaving Air Force for me was that we had just won a conference championship, the first one in the school’s history,” Skenes said. “We built that together, and it felt like there was unfinished work that still needed to be done.
“That’s how it feels right now. We won the conference championship at Air Force, and that goal is what’s ahead of us here. We just have to finish the job. Leaving before that would leave a bad taste because there would still be work left undone.”
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