Some baseball teams build rosters. Others chase dreams. Right now, the New York Mets are doing a bit of both, but the dream? That could be Paul Skenes, even if they won’t say it out loud.
You can feel it in the air at Citi Field. The team has the bones of a contender—flashes of brilliance, statistical clout—but they’re missing that one guy. The ace. The firestarter. Someone who steps on the mound and stops losing streaks dead in their tracks.
They believe Paul Skenes could be that guy.
Why Skenes feels like the missing piece
You don’t just stumble across a Paul Skenes every year. He’s the kind of pitcher who makes grown men stop mid-conversation at a bar when he’s on TV.
Last season, he earned the NL Rookie of the Year with a jaw-dropping 1.96 ERA. This year? A 2.36 ERA in nearly 70 innings. His career stats include 240 strikeouts over just 201.2 innings and a 2.10 ERA. That’s dominance.
The Mets, for all their depth, lack that kind of dominance. They’re like a five-star restaurant with no head chef. The ingredients are there—good rotation, solid bullpen—but they’re missing the guy who brings it all together, who can take the ball and dominate for seven or eight frames.
What the proposed trade looks like on paper
MLB insider Jim Bowden floated a possible deal that sent Mets fans into a frenzy. The package? Carson Benge, Jett Williams, Brandon Sproat, and Ryan Clifford.
All top-five prospects in the Mets’ system. On paper, that sounds like a treasure chest.
But is it enough?
Mets reporter John Harper doesn’t think so. He believes David Stearns would “sprint to the phone” to accept that deal. The subtext: it’s too good to be true.
Because from the Pirates’ side, this deal feels light—like trading your prized Mustang for a fleet of dependable sedans. Nice pieces, sure. But Skenes isn’t just a nice piece.
Why the Pirates would hesitate—even if the deal is tempting
The Pirates aren’t contenders right now. That much is obvious. But trading away someone like Skenes? That’s a different kind of risk.
It’s waving the white flag on a potential cornerstone. He’s young, controllable, elite—and most importantly, a symbol of hope in Pittsburgh.
Sure, they’d get four exciting prospects. But the gap between “exciting” and “proven” is vast. And Skenes has already crossed that bridge.
Unless a team offers controllable MLB-ready talent plus those top-tier prospects, the Pirates have no real incentive to listen.
As it stands, Bowden’s Mets proposal lacks the kind of major league impact player Pittsburgh would need to justify a trade.
Could the Mets even pull this off?
Let’s be honest—the odds aren’t great. The Mets don’t have the kind of young MLB talent to sweeten the pot. They’d need to get creative or overpay in a way that makes fans wince.
Only a handful of teams can afford to strip their system bare for someone like Skenes, and right now, the Mets probably aren’t one of them. That doesn’t mean the dream dies—it just means it’s a dream for another day.
When stars align, but just out of reach
This situation is like trying to lasso a comet. You see it streaking across the sky, feel its heat, know it could change everything. But it’s moving fast, and unless you’ve got the tools, you’re only going to catch a glimpse.
That’s where the Mets are with Paul Skenes.
Popular reading:
Mets 6, White Sox 4: Good news and bad news as Pete Alonso and Jared Young power Mets over Chicago