Paul Skenes Addresses Contract Situation After Pirates’ Latest Losing Season

If there’s any consolation for Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes, it’s that he won’t have spent 2025 pitching for a 100-loss club.

Unfortunately for Skenes, the Pirates don’t appear close to contending for the playoffs anytime soon. The 65-89 Pirates are putting the finishing touches on the team’s seventh consecutive losing season, and they’re on the verge of hitting 90 losses for the first time since 2022.

Questions continue mounting about Skenes’ long-term future with the Pirates, even after the organization all but publicly insisted they don’t intend to trade the NL Cy Young favorite. Although Skenes is under team control through the 2029 season, MLB rules allow the Pirates to sign him to an extension whenever the two sides want to get a deal done.

However, don’t expect to hear about a new contract within the coming days. Skenes declined to comment when asked if he had any updates on a possible extension.

“That’s not something I want to discuss during the season,” Skenes told reporters. “They haven’t brought anything up to me out of respect for that, too. No discussions on that.”

Skenes has been phenomenal all season, entering play Saturday with a league-best 2.03 ERA and a 209-42 K-BB ratio in 181 2/3 innings. Although Skenes is only 10-10, his 7.3 bWAR trails only New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge (8.6) among players leaguewide.