Mark Madden: Pirates fans should appreciate Paul Skenes while they still can

It’s a new holiday in Pittsburgh: Skenes Day. It occurs roughly once a week. The city stops and watches.

The biggest Skenes Day yet is Tuesday. Paul Skenes starts for the National League in the MLB All-Star Game at Arlington, Texas.

All-Star games are meaningless. But in this one, the bottom of the first inning won’t be.

It’s the hotshot rookie phenom against some of baseball’s biggest names, most notably the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge: 34 home runs before the all-star break.

I’m betting on Skenes. Fastball, fastball, splinker. (Gotta use the recently invented pitch to get the strikeout. It builds the brand.)

That’s if Skenes pitches to Judge. The American League is batting Judge fourth, thereby potentially depriving us of the big-on-big matchup we most want to see. Baseball is so stupid. (Or maybe Judge is ducking Skenes. I wouldn’t blame him.)

Enjoy Skenes Day while you can. This holiday has an expiration date, at least here in Pittsburgh.

Lots of talk is flying around about what it will take to make Skenes a career Pirate.

That just won’t happen. There’s zero chance.

It’s suggested that a deal worth $140 million would take away two years of free agency. But Skenes isn’t looking for security. He’s not Mitch Keller.

Somebody said 10 years, $400 million. That would afford Skenes a big bump early. But Pirates owner Bob Nutting would never pay that.

Even if Nutting offered Skenes a mega-deal, what faith could Skenes have that the Pirates would spend enough to assemble a winning team around him?

I just hope the Pirates don’t make a lowball offer that’s embarrassing and insulting.

Skenes can’t win a World Series as a Pirate.

Skenes can’t become an all-time MLB great as a Pirate.

I’m waxing realistic, not pessimistic.

I’m advising that Pittsburgh appreciate Skenes as much as possible while it’s possible.

Not just because his days as a Pirate are numbered. But because circumstance can make any athlete’s run of success a short one.

Skenes’ ascent has been compared to Mark Fidrych, the Detroit Tigers phenom who started the All-Star Game as a rookie in 1976, finishing the season with a 19-9 record and a 2.34 ERA. He got AL Rookie of the Year. Fidrych was 21 when that season started. Skenes is 22.

But Fidrych was out of MLB after the 1980 season. He had knee problems and tore his rotator cuff, though that wasn’t diagnosed for years. He started 29 games as a rookie. He started just 27 after that.

The best way to think about Skenes is in the here and now.

So, let’s do that.

When Mario Lemieux exploded onto the scene with the Penguins in 1984, I thought it would last forever. I’ve never revered any athlete more than Lemieux. But, for a bit, I probably took him for granted.

Then came his back problems in 1990. Surgery followed. Lemieux’s career was in doubt.

Additional heightened circumstances followed, not least cancer.

But I’d learned my lesson by then. I kept my eyes 100% glued to whatever Lemieux did for the rest of his career. (His comeback in 2000 was a huge bonus. An unexpected sequel that hit big.)

The Pirates have never had a pitcher like Skenes and might never again.

Wallow in it. Enjoy every Skenes Day. Every strikeout. Every splinker.

Skenes is worth the price of a ticket. I hate to put even one dollar in the hillbilly grifter’s pocket, but get to PNC Park and watch Skenes DELETE! Brother Nero … I knew you’d come.