Baseball

Paul Skenes wants to play for the Yankees
Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Paul Skenes wants to play for the Yankees
Credit: SI.com

Tonight, Paul Skenes is sure to win the Cy Young. The Pirates have youngsters growing in the branches. We've learned that the club is considering spending some money to improve training in 2026.

Theoretically, this is good news.

But in reality, nobody really believes it. We know that in 2026, Paul Skenes will still be the Pirates' headliner (it's too early to trade him, as he's a year away from being eligible for salary arbitration) and that he'll be all alone in the world at PNC Park.

And we know that losing like this will scupper him. I'm not saying that positively…

But now, according to Randy Miller, who covers Yankee activities, Skenes has openly told teammates in 2024 and 2025 that he wants to play for the Yankees someday.

A teammate of Skenes in those years told the reporter.

Is this necessarily a surprise? No. Because even though Skenes is a native Californian and the Angels are his childhood club, New York is still… New York.

But it's still big news. Especially when you consider that his girlfriend, Livvy Dunne, tried to buy Babe Ruth's old apartment in New York and ended up settling for another nearly $2 million apartment in the Big Apple.

What's crazy is that Pirates GM Ben Cherrington says he understands the situation. It was reporter Randy Miller who asked him about the situation – and who informed the GM that his star was thinking along these lines.

And the GM said he rejected the news, but understood it. Ouch!

Skenes can become a free agent after the 2029 season, four years from now. By then, he could be the highest-paid pitcher in Major League Baseball history (behind Shohei Ohtani).

And if that happens, it won't be in Pittsburgh.

This content was created with the help of AI.

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