Paul Skenes believes what the Pirates did prior to this week's trade deadline indicates that there is a long-term plan in place for 2026 and beyond. The problem is that Skenes has yet to see -- or be told -- exactly what Ben Cherington and Co. are doing.

"I think they do have a plan," Skenes told me this morning. "I just don't know exactly what it is." 

Skenes interpretation of the club's deadline activity was an effort to clear salary space, a move that could benefit the team given the right moves are made moving forward. And not just any moves -- moves directed specifically at improving Major League Baseball's worst offense in terms of runs scored (390) this season.

"I haven't talked with them, but in my mind that makes sense to go out and acquire some bats in the offseason," Skenes said. "Give some room for some young guys to come up and have new roles and really flourish in those roles. I think we've seen that a little bit this year, but time will tell."

Even with David Bednar now with the Yankees, Ke'Bryan Hayes going to the Reds and Bailey Falter being dealt to the Royals this week, Skenes believes there's a good core of players for the organization to build around.

He also said he thought that was the case at this time last year, too. And now, Skenes is pushing for urgency within the organization, top to bottom.

"We have to be intentional about getting better from within," Skenes said. "I think the next two months are going to be really important in terms of building a culture and identity for next year, and how we're going to play the game and how we're going to go about our business on a day-to-day basis. It starts now. There's no time to waste, because I think we saw this offseason and spring training that there is a good core here, and I don't think we've done a good enough job of doing what we should do, frankly. We can't waste time with that." 

As for the decision to keep guys on expiring contracts -- Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Tommy Pham and Andrew Heaney -- rather than trade them ahead of the deadline, Skenes said his initial reaction was that it takes guts to keep guys like that. But he knows their presence will only help the younger guys, like Liover Peguero for example, who could be presented with more opportunities moving forward.

"Because there's going to be a lot of pressure, internally and externally, to get rid of those guys," Skenes said. "A guy like Peggy comes to mind. He's come up from Triple-A, he's been given an opportunity, and having guys like IKF and Tommy be around him, learning how to work, learning how to be a big leaguer, that's important. Within the clubhouse, they're huge. The play is going to speak for itself, but I was impressed that we kept them."