The New York Yankees tried. They tried. It's like when you were in high school and you asked out the prom queen.

And she promptly said, what? What? No. I'm dating the quarterback of the football team. I'm not going out with a twerp like you.

Not that the Yankees are a twerp. Let me clarify. But according to John Heyman, the New York Yankees did call the Pittsburgh Pirates before the trade deadline to try to make an offer on Paul Skeens. And the Pittsburgh Pirates very promptly said, we do not even want to hear your offer. Here's what I take out of this. Obviously, the Pirates are not ready to trade Paul Skeens. They were trying to compete this year. They made some moves in attempting to do so, bringing in a Marcelo Zuna, bringing in Ryan O'Hern, trading for Brandon Lau. Like, they are trying. But I think we all

know, even with the new CBA, the Pittsburgh Pirates are likely not paying Paul Skeens what he's

ultimately going to get when he's a free agent after the 2029 season. What I read from this

is that every once in a while, Tiki, the Yankees have a guy,

a guy that they look at and say, you will be ours.

C.C. Sabathia was one of them. Garrett Cole was one of them. I think Paul Skeens is one of them.

Like, if I had to guess right now, you want a long-term prediction, not even knowing what the CBA is,

they will outbid Steve Cullen for Paul Skeens.

He's their guy.

You could just sense it.

Does that make financial sense, given what we've been talking about with the Yankees for the last however many years, how they don't want to spend. Now they already have so much money put into their starting rotation. Yeah, but a lot of those guys are going to be off the books by that point. By the time you have to pay Schoenjean, Don McColl. Yeah. And Carlos Rodin's contract will probably be over. I've got to do the math and count it up. Right. Like, there's a lot of free money there. And again,an's contract will probably be over. I got to do the math and count it up.

Right. Like there's a lot of free money there. And again, he's that guy. He's that guy every seven or eight years. How many years less? Scheen's a free agent at the end of the 29 season. Carlos Rodan's got, I think, like, two years left. Like, it's nothing. Right. So it's not, that's not a worry. No, it's not. still be here.

He signed for a million years.

I could see that then.

Oh, Right. So it's not, that's not a worry. No, it's not. Max Friedel still be here.

He signed for a million years.

I could see that then. Oh, I completely see it. Like, that's how I took that report because, look, the pirates aren't trading him, so I know that there's a lot of reaction of, oh, great, the Yankees made an offer. Who cares? That's a fantasy for now. Like for now, the pirates aren't trading him. And we could play the game of, what would you give up?

How far would you go?

Would you give up Lombard?

Would you give up Schlitler?

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