{"id":504706,"date":"2026-01-04T00:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T00:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/504706\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T00:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T00:26:15","slug":"pirates-paul-skenes-makes-offseason-move-on-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/504706\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirates\u2019 Paul Skenes Makes Offseason Move on Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Skenes entered the 2025 season with sky-high expectations after being selected No. 1 overall in the 2023 MLB<\/a> Draft and flashing elite talent in parts of his debut campaign. In his first full season with the Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a>, the right-hander dominated opposing hitters, earning unanimous selection as the 2025 National League Cy Young Award winner thanks to a sub-2.00 ERA and an overwhelmingly strong body of work on the mound.<\/p>\n

Skenes\u2019 performance earned him his second All-Star nod and cemented his status as one of baseball\u2019s most fearsome starters. The Pirates, meanwhile, struggled to translate Skenes\u2019 brilliance into team success. Pittsburgh finished 71-91 and last in the National League Central, a disappointing result that underscored the club\u2019s offensive and pitching inconsistencies outside of its ace.<\/p>\n

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\"Pittsburgh<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes (30).\u00a9 Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

With the 2026 campaign now in view, the focus of the Buccos has been building around Skenes as they prepare for his second full season. The Pirates clearly view him as the cornerstone of their rotation and a player around whom they can construct a competitive roster. Skenes is expected to again be Pittsburgh\u2019s standout, carrying heavy expectations after his award-winning campaign and serving as a leader on a young pitching staff.<\/p>\n

So far this offseason, the Pirates acquired All-Star second baseman Brandon Lowe from the Tampa Bay Rays<\/a> and signed free agents in All-Star first baseman<\/a>\/designated hitter<\/a> Ryan O’Hearn and All-Star reliever Gregory Soto, among other moves.<\/p>\n

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As the offseason gradually draws to a close, Skenes made a high-profile trip to Buffalo to meet Buffalo Bills<\/a> quarterback and reigning NFL<\/a> MVP Josh Allen<\/a>, and the two stars exchanged jerseys.<\/p>\n

The MLB reacted to the moment on X: \u201cReigning NL Cy Young \ud83e\udd1d Reigning NFL MVP.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s likely Skenes was in town to watch the Bills take on the New York Jets<\/a> in their Week 18 finale on Sunday.<\/p>\n

While the 23-year-old continues to enjoy a well-deserved offseason rest, he and the Pirates will hope they can turn things around when the 2026 MLB season resumes in late March.<\/p>\n

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The team will begin spring games in the Grapefruit League on Feb. 21 and will take on the Baltimore Orioles<\/a> in Sarasota, Florida, as part of preparing for the new campaign. Their hopes rest heavily on improvements around Skenes, whose arm remains the most exciting reason for optimism in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

Related: Pirates\u2019 MLB Free Agency Move is Good News for Paul Skenes<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jan 3, 2026, where it first appeared in the MLB<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Skenes entered the 2025 season with sky-high expectations after being selected No. 1 overall in the 2023…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2402],"tags":[47,5,1751,15492,6663,48030,4,15493,877,10,776,64,4297,68],"class_list":["post-504706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh-pirates","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baseball","tag-brandon-lowe","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-gregory-soto","tag-josh-allen","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-jets","tag-paul-skenes","tag-pirates","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-pirates","tag-pittsburghpirates","tag-tampa-bay-rays"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115833994322923463","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}