Pirates fans have had to hear the Paul Skenes-to-the-Yankees noise for a while now, and the Spencer Jones angle is the part that keeps resurfacing. What started with Jon Heyman floating Jones as a name the Yankees would not move unless Skenes was involved has turned into a steady stream of speculation, with Heyman later suggesting New York could have been willing to build a package around Jones, George Lombard Jr., Carlos Lagrange, and Cam Schlittler.
The Pirates, according to the source material, had no interest in that idea. But Jones has changed the conversation a bit with the way he’s hit since his latest call-up on July 22.
The 6-foot-7 outfielder has always had the kind of frame that makes people squint and wonder how much contact he’ll make. That concern looked justified when he finished 2025 ice cold after a midseason surge, carrying a 36.6% strikeout rate in Triple-A.
This year, though, he’s shown real improvement during his extended run in New York. His contact rate is sitting just under 80%, he’s chasing fewer pitches outside the zone, and when he connects, the ball is jumping.
Since July 22, Jones has put up a .267/.342/.496 line with seven home runs and eight stolen bases. That production works out to a 119 wRC+, and it comes with the bonus of strong center-field defense and 90th-percentile sprint speed, which is a wild combination for a player his size.
Skenes, meanwhile, has been on the other side of the trend line. His August 25 start looked like a step toward getting out of a funk, but the follow-up on September 1 against the San Francisco Giants went sideways fast, with five earned runs allowed in 4 2/3 innings.
His most recent outing was better, though it still didn’t go deep enough. The confidence in his talent is still there, but the source makes clear there’s concern until he starts stacking the kind of outings that match his standard.
Even with Jones trending up, there’s still a big warning label attached. He’s striking out 33.8% of the time during this hot stretch, so the progress is real without being fully convincing yet. The bat is flashing, but there’s no guarantee the slump-proof version ever arrives.
Still, the source argues that if the Yankees really did put Lombard Jr., Schlittler, and Lagrange on the table with Jones, the Pirates would have had a hard time looking back and seeing it as anything but a miss. Schlittler has posted a 2.01 ERA with a 31.4% strikeout rate over 178 2/3 innings, and the comparison drawn in the piece is that he looks a lot like Skenes did a year ago, only with two more years of team control.
Lombard Jr. is going through big league growing pains, and Lagrange is injured, but both are still described as having major upside. The piece points to a Lombard Jr.-Konnor Griffin double play pairing as the kind of thing teams dream about, while Lagrange’s 102 miles per hour fastball gives him the look of a real weapon.
And if Jones ended up in the same outfield as Esmerlyn Valdez, the power would be the headline. The source closes by saying that if the Yankees are truly determined to chase Skenes, that’s the kind of return Pittsburgh should be asking for. It may never happen, but with the benefit of hindsight, a Jones-centered package doesn’t sound nearly as far-fetched as it once did.
In Other News...
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In the corresponding move, Pittsburgh recalled outfielder Ronny Simon from Triple-A Indianapolis, and the team is expected to cover right field with Jake Mangum and Simon while Valdez works back. For a club trying to keep its offense moving, the injury leaves even less margin for error, and it puts more attention on how quickly the Pirates can piece together production in a spot that had finally become a real threat. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Suddenly Face A Rotation Problem At The Worst Time
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Mitch Keller being lost for the season with a right arm injury has only added to the pressure on a group that needed steadiness most in the final stretch. With only a few games left, the Pirates are trying to patch together innings and keep themselves in the chase, but the rotation now looks like the clearest problem standing in the way of a push that was already going to be difficult. [Read more 🡒]