The Pittsburgh Pirates just went through their 10th losing season in a row, and it seems Paul Skenes is quite unhappy with the team’s direction. So, it might be time to think about trading their superstar while his asking price is still sky high.
Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller believes that the Pirates should look to move Skenes as well, and proposed a trade that would be reminiscent of the Boston Red Sox’ trade for Garrett Crochet last year, sending Skenes to the St. Louis Cardinals.
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The trade would look like this:
Cardinals get: RHP Paul Skenes
Pirates get: IF JJ Wetherholt, LHP Matthew Liberatore, RHP Michael McGreevy, LHP Liam Doyle and C Leonardo Bernal
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“Last offseason, Boston gave up a haul of four prospects—including two who were very comfortably regarded as top-100 prospects—for two years of Garrett Crochet (before almost immediately signing him to a long-term extension)…So, we’ve got the Cardinals giving up first-round picks from each of the 2025 (Doyle), 2024 (Wetherholt), 2021 (McGreevy) and 2018 (Liberatore) drafts, as well as a 21-year-old switch-hitting catcher (Bernal) who could at least do something for a moribund Pirates offense,” Miller wrote.
This would be one of the most ludicrous trades of the offseason; one, because Skenes is going to need so much to be traded for, and two, the Cards are probably going through a rebuild soon and need their prospects.
However, if the Cards decide to reload over rebuild, having a 1-2 punch of Skenes and Sonny Gray would be electric. Plus, the Pirates get a bunch of top prospects to start their rebuild as well.
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