Konnor Griffin has not yet turned 20, is already married, has a major league hit under his belt and guaranteed himself $140 million over the next nine years.
The kid moves quickly.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have not won a division title since 1992, still have not guaranteed a free agent more than $39 million and remain under the constant scrutiny of the players’ association for spending their hard-earned revenue sharing money.
The franchise moves with all the grace of a tugboat stuck in the wind-swept waters of the Monongahela.
Yet somehow, this irrepressible force of youth and this staid and perpetually stuck franchise came together in glorious fashion Wednesday, April 8, the Pirates guaranteeing Griffin $140 million over nine seasons, they announced with glee.
It was a watershed moment for a perpetual punching bag, stopping the clock on losing a potential franchise icon before his nascent career amounted to a death march to free agency.
Speaking of which – we’re just six months from Paul Skenes reaching the halfway point to freedom and, health willing, a $500 million contract.
Sigh.
Yeah, it’s never enough in Steel City, where stars are grown either to accept team-friendly extensions or head elsewhere. Still, Griffin’s signing and Pittsburgh’s very encouraging 7-4 start show what a little investment can do.
Modest spending, big dividends
Owner Bob Nutting, the “embattled” removed from his title for just a day, has called this a “foot-on-the-gas year” for the club.
We’d never associate foot up on the gas with signing Ryan O’Hearn to a two-year, $29 million deal, but somebody gotta do it.
Funny how investing even modestly in the product can work out: O’Hearn, a 2025 All-Star outfielder/first baseman, has already produced a game-winning hit, 11 RBIs in 10 games and a 1.134 OPS. Trading for Brandon Lowe – entering his walk year – and signing Marcell Ozuna to a short-term deal hardly made the Buccos “off-season winners” in the various popular hot stove analyses.
But suddenly, a pitching-rich team had a lineup suitable for the major leagues, all at a discount. Griffin debuted to much fanfare April 3, and the Pirates are suddenly unbeaten in four games at home.
Hours before announcing Griffin’s extension, they showed off the new era of Buccos Ball, winning a game they’d absolutely have lost in past seasons.
Skenes exited the seventh inning with a one-run lead over San Diego, a perfect set-up for a late lead squandered and the hulking right-hander exiting with a no-decision despite giving up two or fewer runs – a scenario that played out in 11 of his 32 starts in his 2025 Cy Young season.
Instead, they suppressed the Padres with five consecutive singles, one by O’Hearn, another by Jake Mangum (who came over from Tampa Bay in the Lowe deal) and the capper, a two-run single by the 19-year-old Griffin.
A one-run game became 7-1, and the Padres’ cadre of $300 million men would not hurt them this night.
Paul Skenes contract: Lessons learned
Naturally, Griffin’s agreement won’t quiet the 6-6, 260-pound elephant in the room.
Skenes’ path to free agency was more or less ensured when he won 2024 Rookie of the Year honors – guaranteeing him a full year of service time and greatly narrowing the Pirates’ window to potentially explore an extension. Worse, the Pirates did not gain a compensatory draft pick because Skenes was not promoted within two weeks of opening day.
The Pirates avoided both pitfalls with Griffin – he will be a Pirate through 2034 and his early promotion keeps the club in play should Griffin win any major awards these next three seasons.
It also props open a window: Griffin and Skenes will play nearly four seasons together. Sure, this isn’t the NBA, where you can build a club around two guys. Yet Pittsburgh’s wealth of young pitching gives it a shot every year and suddenly, the notion of contending makes beautiful PNC Park a potential destination again.
That might not win you any Kyle Tuckers in free agency. But it gives you a fighting chance with the O’Hearns of the world, and perhaps gets you to the table within the Pete Alonso-Kyle Schwarber strata the Pirates explored last winter.
No, a penurious franchise has not yet totally changed its stripes. Yet there’s now a path in Pittsburgh, a reason for agents to return their calls and fans to come out stronger than the 9,000 who braved the cold to watch Skenes last night.
It’s also unfair to consider Skenes’ fate a referendum on the Pirates’ desires. Just ask their Rust Belt bros in Detroit how difficult that’s been with Tarik Skubal. Sure, perhaps we’ll be attaching “embattled” and “tight-fisted” before Nutting’s title again someday soon, though Skenes’ fate may not necessarily be the reason why.
This time, though, a franchise and its potential cornerstone found common ground. And perhaps that tugboat has found an extra gear.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Konnor Griffin’s $140M deal is big but Paul Skenes free agency looms
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