MLB Rumors: Pirates' Paul Skenes struggles in Double-A debut

The Pittsburgh Pirates held the first overall pick in this year's MLB Entry Draft, and it was no surprise who would be selected. Paul Skenes was the star pitcher for the LSU Tigers and is perhaps the most hyped arm since Stephen Strasburg. The Pirates wasted no time and Skenes in hopes of him becoming their ace.

Pittsburgh has lofty expectations for Skenes and feels that he can make an impact on the team, quickly. He has skyrocketed up the farm system shortly after being drafted last month. He had one start in Rookie ball, then two starts in Low-A Bradenton. The Pirates then informed Skenes that he would be promoted to Double-A Altoona, and would make his first start on Saturday night.

The thing is, Skenes had a rough debut for the Curves against the Akron RubberDucks. Skenes couldn't even make it out of the first inning. He only recorded two outs but allowed four earned runs on three hits, while striking out two batters and issuing two walks. Skenes threw 33 pitches, 16 of which were strikes.

The plan entering the game was to pitch two innings at most. But given how the first inning was going, the decision was made to ultimately pull him.

His debut didn't go as planned, especially since 10,164 fans took in his first start in person, which was a team attendance record. It's no time to panic, as he has plenty of time to rebound from this outing and get used to talent at the Double-A level.

MLB Rumors: Cubs prospect's historic major league debut

The Chicago Cubs are fighting for a spot in the postseason. While they are four games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the NL Central, they hold the second NL Wild Card spot by half a game entering Sunday. They have this spot despite dealing with starting rotation issues. This weekend, the team called for reinforcements.

On Saturday, the Cubs called up No. 10 prospect Jordan Wicks to make the start against the Pittsburgh Pirates. let's just say that the Cubs have a lot to be excited about.

To start the game, Wicks surrendered a leadoff home run to Ke'Bryan Hayes to put the Cubs in a 1-0 deficit. Then, he surrendered a single to Bryan Reynolds and walked Andrew McCutchen. From there, Wicks would ease into things, striking out Connor Joe, Endy Rodriguez, and Joshua Palacios in succession to strike out the side.

Those first three baserunners would be the last that Wicks allowed for the rest of the game. According to OptaSTATS, Wicks is the first pitcher to allow the first three batters of the game to reach base, but not allow another baserunner for the rest of the game and earn the win since Luis Tiant did so back in 1974 for the Boston Red Sox.

Wicks pitched five full innings for Chicago, where he struck out nine batters and issued just one walk. The homer to Hayes and the single by Reynolds in the first inning were the only hits Wicks would allow for the entire game.

Quite the way for the left-handed pitcher to make his debut. He certainly did his own to make sure that the Cubs would not fall out of a Wild Card spot.

MLB Rumors: Execs believe Mets trading Pete Alonso is 'imminent'

The New York Mets technically sold at the MLB trade deadline, but they essentially bought top prospects to replenish their farm system. That was done specifically after they traded starting pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. In the weeks after the deadline, there was some buzz that another big name was floated around in trade talks.

According to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, the Milwaukee Brewers had significant interest in acquiring Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, and trade talks reached "field goal range." Additionally, Rosenthal says that the Chicago Cubs were also in talks to acquire Alonso. However, those in the Mets organization say that they were never considering trading their star first baseman.

They should say that repeatedly to their counterparts.

Several executives have told USA Today's Bob Nightengale that after having conversations with the Mets, they believe that the club will trade Alonso this winter. Nightengale writes that the Mets have told teams that every player not under contract after the 2024 season is available. It just so happens to be that Alonso will be a free agent after next season.

"The fact that they had every opportunity to sign this guy, and didn't, speaks volumes about his future,'' one NL GM told Nightengale.

Fans may not take this news well of Alonso potentially getting dealt instead of being signed on a long-term basis. But if the Mets wanted to further bolster their farm system, trading Alonso would certainly help with that. Yes, he does have one more year remaining on his contract after this season, but the Mets could still get quite a return in terms of top prospects.

The question that will dominate talks at the Winter Meetings will be -- will the Mets actually trade Alonso?