Before we start the weekend, the folks at The Athletic decided to make us all feel a bit older today by dropping their MLB All-Quarter Century Team, which dates back to the year 2000. I know some are going to scoff at this, but the fact that I was 10 when the criteria for this list began was not what I expected this morning.
The Athletic’s MLB All-Quarter Century Team
The Athletic enlisted veteran scribe Jayson Stark for this list, and Stark laid out his case for a player at every position (including DH), five starting pitchers, and a closer. Spoiler for our local readers: no Cubs or White Sox players are on Stark’s list. There are, however, a couple of Cubs rivals in Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina.
I’m not going to share everything here, because it’s Stark’s project, so you should read it there, but I will say that I think he did a good job of blending the two eras that overlapped at various points during the last 25 years, while making a respectable case for all of his selections.
There are a couple of choices and omissions that some may find controversial. But overall, I think he nailed the spirit of the exercise. And if you’re not a fan of Stark’s selections, his colleague, Tyler Kepner, put together an explainer and a ballot for readers to cast their own MLB All-Quarter Century votes for a reader-chosen team that will be revealed later.
READ: Jayson Stark’s MLB All-Quarter Century Team (The Athletic)
My Two Cents on the Paul Skenes Trade Discourse
There’s been chatter recently on the internet and even in print, radio, and television regarding the Pittsburgh Pirates trading Paul Skenes. Skenes will turn 23 next week, and is making six figures this season with 1.5 more pre-arbitration years ahead of him, and then three years of arbitration control. With an All-Star Game start and a Rookie of the Year already under his belt, just a year into his major league career, the idea of trading a franchise cornerstone right now seems wildly unrealistic.
In fact, it probably is wildly unrealistic that the Pirates consider moving Skenes.
Still, the Pirates, who do nothing right, should ask themselves whether Skenes would ever consider signing long-term with them. The answer is undoubtedly no. Paul Skenes is a superstar, and he’s not long for Pittsburgh. The Pirates keeping him only prolongs the inevitable breakup while costing them value in a potential trade return.
Pitching is a premium currency. Perhaps the most premium in baseball. It’s also a volatile and rapidly depreciating currency in the modern game, where arm injuries run rampant. Every start Skenes makes, the Pirates watch his value depreciate, and if there were an arm injury (like fellow budding star Jared Jones suffered), Skenes’ value would depreciate like a brand new car driving off the dealership lot.
Trading Skenes at the height of his value would be a shocking move that bucks conventional front office wisdom, but the Pirates lack that in the first place, so why not take a swing at getting something right, and land a blockbuster package that dwarfs the Juan Soto return that the Washington Nationals received a few years ago?
The Pirates haven’t seen the Postseason in a decade and haven’t had a winning season since 2018, and they have no realistic plan for success on the horizon. If the Pirates were competent, trading Skenes could be the plan for a return to success, one that nets them multiple potential starters while keeping them in the hunt for premium draft capital while they wait for those players to be ready.
Pirates GM Ben Cherington said this week that trading Skenes is “not at all part of the conversation.” He’s probably right that it won’t happen this season. That’s probably because ownership would prefer to allow their next GM to oversee that deal, if and when that happens. So, while it’s an intriguing idea, it’s likely unrealistic at this point to expect such a move.
Speaking of Trades …
We’re still roughly two months from the trade deadline, but that hasn’t stopped teams from making notable moves at this point in the calendar in the past. The Miami Marlins dealt Luis Arraez to the San Diego Padres in early May last season.
MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand laid out the case for six teams—including the Marlins—who could jump-start the trade market as we prepare to flip the calendar to June.
READ: 6 Teams Who Could Jump-Start the Trade Market (MLB.com)
Other MLB News and Notes
- Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. will make his 2025 debut tonight after missing nearly a calendar year recovering from a torn ACL. “They double checked with him [pregame] and decided, rather than him playing a game tonight in Louisville and taking tomorrow off, [he’ll] take today off and come play with us tomorrow,” Braves Manager Brian Snitker said following a loss to Washington on Thursday evening. “So that’ll be good. I mean, he feels ready, so that’ll be great. It’ll be great to get him back in the lineup.”
- Jonathan Mayo, Jim Callis, and Sam Dykstra tag-teamed on a fun read over at MLB.com this week, highlighting each club’s most pleasant prospect surprise this season. For the local readers, the prospecting trio chose Cubs’ right-hander Jaxson Wiggins, who owns a 1.78 ERA, .151 batting average against, and 35 strikeouts in 30.1 innings this season between High-A and Double-A.
- Here’s a fun read:
