Paul Skenes isn’t entertaining the Yankees talk, and he made that clear again this week.
Before the Pirates opened a road series in the Bronx, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman asked Skenes about the chatter that keeps trying to tie him to New York - including girlfriend Livvy Dunne’s attempt to buy Babe Ruth’s old apartment on the Upper West Side last summer, which was later turned down by a co-op board.
Skenes brushed off the idea that Dunne’s apartment pursuit had anything to do with a future in pinstripes.
“That’s probably reading a little deeper into it than what is true. If you’re a baseball fan, you’re probably a Babe Ruth fan,” Skenes said.
Heyman also noted that Dunne spends more time in New York City than Skenes does because of her work as an influencer, and because she’s from northern New Jersey in Bergen County. Even with that, the suggestion that the couple had a Yankees plan behind the apartment bid doesn’t hold up, at least not by Skenes’ telling.
The speculation around Skenes and the Yankees has been there almost from the moment he reached the majors in May 2024. Playing for a small-market team tends to invite that kind of noise, and Skenes has already had to swat it away before.
At MLB All-Star Media Day, one reporter said, "Just got the best interview of all time with Paul Skenes, future Yankee," and Skenes answered, "Who was that?" while looking visibly confused.
That sort of talk is baked into the sport right now, especially with no salary cap in place. Big-spending clubs like the Yankees and Dodgers are constantly floated as landing spots for young stars elsewhere, and the current labor divide between MLB and the MLBPA over a possible cap has only added more tension.
A lockout is appearing more likely because of that split, and the outcome could matter a great deal for Pittsburgh. The Pirates would stand to gain if a cap were put in place.
Still, the bigger point for the Pirates is simpler: Skenes is here now, and the constant Yankees speculation serves no real purpose.
Pittsburgh’s window is starting to open, with a young core already in the big leagues and more talent in the farm system. Skenes sits at the center of it all as the club’s No. 1 starter and one of the best pitchers in baseball.
He’s also under club control through the 2029 season.
A record-setting pitcher contract is likely coming for him someday, but that’s a problem for later. For now, the Yankees rumors are just noise, and Skenes has made it clear he isn’t buying into them.
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