That thinking drove ESPN baseball insider Jeff Passan to explain a similar line of thinking, as he pointed out that Skenes is virtually guaranteed to leave the Pirates when he becomes eligible for free agency, given the state of the franchise. By trading him now, Passan argued, the team could recoup a lot of his future value before that happens.

The Pirates have fallen 17 games back of .500 and there are a lot of crazy ideas floating around regarding what to do with some players. One of the wildest thou

On Tuesday, Jacob Mountz of FanSided named the Cubs among three teams who he believed had the "inside track" to trade for Skenes, along with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates.