(TNS) —Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes tossed six shutout innings Sunday. I thought his second-best pitch was his changeup.

I thought his best pitch was the one he made during a postgame interview.

While hosting Sunday’s postgame show on 93.7 The Fan, Dan Zangrilli asked Skenes if he felt the Pirates are “closer than they are further away” from contending.

“I would argue both, to an extent, because we are very close. But we need to consciously and intentionally make moves to get us better,” Skenes said. “I think that’s something that we might have been a victim of in the offseason a little bit.”

Amen. They were. It’s nice to hear the most important player on the roster pointing that out.

“We have guys that can get better — on the pitching side, and offensively. That seemed like that was the goal, the outlook during the offseason,” Skenes said. “We made some moves, but there are guys that we have now that can get better, that will get better. But we have to make it happen. Then, obviously, go out there, trading for guys, signing guys from there. I think it’s something that we have to be conscious and intentional about.”

Indeed. It is obvious. That doesn’t mean his employer will do it, unfortunately. In fact, it feels as if they are “intentionally” refraining from doing so.

That’s an injustice given the window they have to exploit while Skenes is in Pittsburgh. It’s going to be short. But with a guy like that at the top of the rotation, it’s wide open.

At least it should be if the rest of the lineup wasn’t so barren. To Skenes’ earlier point, he’s right. Many on the Bucs’ roster have underachieved this year, particularly in formative weeks and months of the season. Poor play early sent the Pirates ship into the Bermuda Triangle instead of up and down the Three Rivers.

Let’s be honest. Skenes’ response to Zangrilli’s question isn’t entirely altruistic. It wasn’t totally coming from a place of pumping up the logo and speaking on behalf of the fans. He was being self-serving to a degree.

Can you blame him? I can’t. The guy knows he’s stuck here at least until his first arbitration in 2027, and maybe even beyond that.

At 23 years old, the right-hander doesn’t want to burn hundreds of innings off of his arm, throwing into the void that is this franchise’s ineptitude. He wants to win. He wants to see the playoffs. He wants that mileage coming off his career to at least happen in a competitive situation before he gets to hit free agency and make big money.

By that point, you can do both. Here in Pittsburgh, though, you can’t do either. So I appreciate Skenes speaking his mind.

Will Skenes’ words influence change? Unlikely. This is nothing that owner Bob Nutting and general manager Ben Cherington haven’t heard before.

Perhaps the source is more compelling. At least I hope that’s the case. This time, it’s not just frustrated fans. It’s not just bloodthirsty media members. It’s the cornerstone of the organization.

We’ll find out soon enough. The trade deadline is Thursday. Let’s see if Cherington does anything to acquire some of the pieces Skenes is talking about for 2026.

Of course, if this pitch from Skenes doesn’t work, there’s always that changeup.

Although I hear the fastball is pretty good too.