Paul Skenes added to his individual accolades with the National League Cy Young Award but had to use the moment to also sidestep concern that he is looking to leave the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Skenes remains under team control for the rest of the decade but found himself pushing back against a report that he has told teammates he is eager to move on via trade — with a particular focus on joining the New York Yankees.
“I don’t know where that came from,” Skenes told reporters Wednesday night. “The goal is to win, and the goal is to win in Pittsburgh.”
Skenes said he saw the report — in which an anonymous Pirates player is quoted as saying that the star right-hander is “hoping for a trade” before he can become a free agent in 2029 — but responded that he “didn’t think much about it.”
“The way that fans see us outside of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh is not supposed to win,” Skenes said. “There are 29 fan bases that expect us to lose. I want to be a part of the 26 guys that change that.”
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington on Tuesday similarly rejected the idea of Skenes leaving Pittsburgh. Cherington said he has regularly received inquiries from clubs regarding Skenes’ availability and said the conversations are always short.
“The question gets asked, and it’s always respectful,” Cherington said at the MLB general managers meetings. “Teams have to ask the question. I suspect that won’t end. But the answer’s been consistent.”
The Pirates (71-91) finished last in the National League Central in 2025, 26 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers. Skenes, the first pitcher since Dwight Gooden with the New York Mets in the mid-1980s to win Rookie of the Year one season and a Cy Young Award the next, remains optimistic Pittsburgh is closer to contending than most think and that his goal is for multiple World Series titles with the Pirates.
Skenes, selected first overall by the Pirates in the 2023 amateur draft, did his part in 2025, leading the majors in ERA (1.97) while striking out 216 batters in 187⅓ innings during his first full season in the big leagues.
Yet even with his brilliance, Skenes needed a little late help from Pittsburgh’s woeful offense to avoid becoming the first Cy Young-winning starting pitcher to finish with a losing record. Skenes won three of his final four decisions to finish 10-10. That so-so record didn’t stop the towering 6-foot-6 right-hander from being a unanimous Cy Young pick.
Although he was disappointed to be out of contention, Skenes said playing out the string was “a blessing” individually in some ways.
“It allowed me to try some new things in August and September that I wouldn’t have gotten to try if we were playing for the playoffs,” he said.
Information from ESPN’s Jorge Castillo and The Associated Press was used in this report.