Paul Skenes denies report that he wants to play for Yankees
Paul Skenes f the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches in the second inning against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park on Sept. 16 in Pittsburgh. Credit: TNS/Justin Berl
LAS VEGAS — Pirates ace Paul Skenes, fresh off capturing this year’s National League Cy Young Award, pushed back Wednesday night on a report from earlier in the day that quoted an anonymous teammate saying the righthander expressed a desire to pitch for the Yankees.
“I don’t know where that came from,” Skenes told reporters after receiving all 30 first-place votes in the Cy Young voting. “I don’t know the reporter. I don’t know the player that supposedly said that. But the goal is to win, and the goal is to win in Pittsburgh.”
Skenes, who went 10-10 with an MLB-leading 1.97 ERA in 32 starts for the perennially parsimonious Pirates in 2025, told the teammate that he had “no confidence” he would ever win in Pittsburgh, according to the report in NJ Advance Media.
“Trust me, he wants to play for the Yankees,” the teammate said, according to the report. “I’ve heard him say it multiple times.”
“I got shown the tweet and got some texts about it. Didn’t think much about it,” Skenes, the first overall pick in the 2023 draft, said during his conference call Wednesday. “I’m on the Pirates. My goal is to win with the Pirates. The way that fans see us outside of Pittsburgh, we’re not supposed to win. There are 29 fan bases that expect us to lose. I want to be a part of the 26 guys that change that.”
Under baseball’s current collective bargaining agreement, which expires at the end of next year, Skenes, 23, is not eligible for free agency until after the 2029 season.
The Pirates, who went 71-91 and fired manager Derek Shelton — recently hired to manage the Twins— last had a winning season in 2018 (82-79). Under owner Bob Nutting, the Pirates have consistently had one of the lowest payrolls in the game ($82.8 million last season, according to Spotrac.com, which ranked them 27th out of 30 teams).
Even before Wednesday’s report, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington faced questions about a possible Skenes trade, something he said will not happen — at least not this offseason.
“Paul Skenes is going to be a Pirate in 2026,” Cherington told reporters Tuesday afternoon during the NL general managers' availability at the annual GM meetings. “It’s always respectful; teams have to ask the question, right? I suspect that won’t end. But the answer has been consistent.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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