Rumored framework of Yankees-Paul Skenes trade is getting far too much criticism

Will Paul Skenes ever be a member of the New York Yankees? There's always been a rumor simmering under the surface that the world's best pitcher will eventually find his way into pinstripes. Those rumors hit a peak last July when the Pittsburgh Pirates were stuck in the mud and seemed to have little hope. According to Jon Heyman, those weren't just rumors. New York actually tried to acquire the 23-year-old ace.

Talks didn't get very far. Much like the Tarik Skubal foray over the winter, the Pirates hung up the phone as soon as they heard Skenes' name. At the time, the package the Yankees offered might not have seemed competitive enough. Now, roughly eight months later, it seems shockingly fair.

Per Heyman, the Yankees' proposal might've included Cam Schlittler, Carlos Lagrange, George Lombard Jr., and Spencer Jones. That quartet hasn't proven much, but over these last several months, they've leveled up drastically in the potential department.

Yankees now might even reject their own trade package for Paul Skenes

The funny thing about this is that if the deal were offered today, the Yankees might be the ones to say no. At the time the deal was offered last year, Schlittler had made three unimpressive big league starts, Lagrange had been in Double-A for less than two months, and Lombard Jr. was struggling to adapt to his own promotion.

Now, though, New York might be giving up four future stars. Since August 1 (excluding playoffs), Schlittler's performance has been neck and neck with Skenes in nearly all major statistical categories.

It's close. We're not putting Schlittler in the same tier as Skenes (yet), but the dominant ace-like performance has been there over a decently sized sample. Skenes is still about a year and a half younger than Schlittler, but Schlittler comes with an additional year of team control.

The rest are major league unknowns, but seriously, name one player whose stock rose more this spring than Lagrange. It's only a matter of time before the six-foot-seven monster is pumping 103 miles per hour fastballs (among other nasty offerings) and striking fear in the hearts of opposing hitters.

Lombard Jr. and Jones are tougher to square. The former is the furthest away from the majors of the group, while the latter still hasn't proven that his floor isn't in the depths of the ocean despite his sky-high ceiling.

It's really hard to come up with a package that could realistically land a player of Skenes' caliber with that many years of team control, but this certainly comes close ... so close that the Yankees might be the ones to have some pause.

As for the Pirates, they'd probably still say no, but this time, for different reasons. After years of penny pinching, they opened up the checkbook, making runs at, but getting turned down by a bunch of big-name free agents like Josh Naylor, Kyle Schwarber, and Framber Valdez.

They did, however, work the trade market and get some solid second-tier free agents, bringing Brandon Lowe, Ryan O'Hearn, and Marcell Ozuna into the fold. The issue for Pittsburgh was that their offense was so pitiful last year, it couldn't support the budding, young pitching staff. Now that's not the case as they've moved into the fringes of contention in the NL Central.

So, while it probably isn't the best move for either party, we don't need to go walking around calling Yankees fans delusional. Based on what the Pirates needed at the time, along with the Yankees' vastly improved prospect talent, this offer wasn't at all that farfetched.