The MLB legend praises Skenes’ talent but predicts the rising superstar may eventually leave the Pirates for a bigger market.
Paul Skenes has always ruled the mound. From his days as LSU’s dominant ace — leading the Tigers to a College World Series title while earning both the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player honor and the National Pitcher of the Year Award — to being selected first overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates and earning back-to-back All-Star selections in his first two professional seasons, Skenes has done more than live up to the hype. He’s redefined it, taking the baseball world by storm.
And he’s not the only talented young player Pittsburgh has in its system; just ask MLB legend CC Sabathia.
“They have so much young talent,” he said on the latest episode of Network with Rich Kleiman. “They got the Bubba Chandler kid, Jared Jones, you got this kid Konnor Griffin, they got Termarr Johnson in their system. So, they have a lot of talent in their system; they just need to get it up to the big leagues and, you know, see what they can do for the next couple of years.”
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Even so, thanks to Pittsburgh’s 147-177 record over the last two years, many have wondered if the Pirates would entertain trading their star pitcher in Skenes, given the enormous return he would surely get as the team preaches patience while these younger players develop. The rest of the league will surely inquire, but if you ask Sabathia, the team likely has its hands tied and wouldn’t pull off such a trade “because of the way that would look to their fan base.”
But that doesn’t mean Skenes will be a Pirate for life, either.
“I don’t think he’ll stay there,” Sabathia said to Kleiman. “He’ll end up being like Gerrit Cole. He’ll end up somewhere else, pitching in the playoffs in a pennant race down the stretch. [When] he becomes a free agent and who knows where he’ll end up. Maybe he ends up somewhere in New York, or you know, on the other coast in L.A. I don’t see him playing his whole career in Pittsburgh, but I don’t see them trading him anytime soon.”
Be sure to catch the full conversation between Sabathia and Kleiman at Boardroom’s YouTube channel here, as well as on Yahoo Sports’ Apple and Spotify pages.
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