Pirates fans dream, Tigers fans laugh at ESPN’s absurd Paul Skenes trade pitch

The Detroit Tigers have one of the two best starting pitchers in baseball in Tarik Skubal, anchoring their rotation. The only thing that could be better? Acquiring the other!

That's exactly what ESPN suggests with a proposed trade to bring Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes to the Motor City. The only problem, Pittsburgh has deemed the 23-year-old stud untouchable, and it would take an absolute haul to change their mind.

That's exactly what ESPN has proposed with them hypothetically sending top prospects outfielder Max Clark and shortstop Kevin McGonigle alongside starting pitchers Jackson Jobe and Sawyer Gipson-Long, as well as infielder Colt Keith.

Forget a haul, that's an absolute king's ransom! And it's never gonna happen.

ESPN's proposed Tigers' trade package for Paul Skenes will never happen

By ESPN's own prospect rankings, Max Clark is the No. 8 prospect in all of baseball, while Kevin McGonigle resides just outside the top 10 at No. 11. They also ranked Jackson Jobe seventh overall, and despite being lost for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, that's still a reasonable assetment of Jobe's talent.

On top of that, Colt Keith was ESPN's 40th-ranked prospect ahead of the 2024 campaign, and the 23-year-old has begun to come into his own with a 120 wRC+ through 85 games played, even if his position is still in flux.

Compared to the other two packages they propose, the Tigers would be paying significantly more than what they pegged the Mets and Dodgers offering, as neither team has a top 10 prospect in their offer, let alone three guys who have resided in or just outside of that illustrious tier.

Moreover, Clark and McGonigle both just took a huge step forward in their journeys to the big leagues, getting the call to Double-A Erie last week. Clark had torn it up for High-A West Michigan with a .285/.430/.427 line in 68 games, walking more (19.7% BB-rate) than he struck out (17.0% K-rate). McGonigle had been even more impressive, slashing .372/.462/.648 through 36 Hi-A games.

Two positions of weakness for the Tigers are shortstop and center field, where youngsters Trey Sweeney (.595 OPS) and Parker Meadows (.545 OPS) have failed to make an impact. Clark and McGonigle might not be ready this year, but they aren't far off from factoring into the mix at those two problem areas.

Meanwhile, Jackson Jobe still has top-of-the-rotation ceiling. Skenes isn't a fair comp for any youngster, but it's a fair question as to how much of an upgrade he'd truly be if Jobe reaches his ceiling once he returns to action in 2026.

Even if you could swallow losing that trio, once Keith's name is included, it goes from the realm of the cost of doing business to acquire an unprecedented asset, given Skenes' talent and years of control remaining, to a Pirates fan's pipe dream.

The bottom line is Detroit has bigger needs at the deadline than a co-ace to run up front with Tarik Skubal, and parting with so many key assets, all of whom fill or will fill areas of need for Detroit, is simply ludicrous.