Dodgers fans foaming at the mouth over Jeff Passan's latest Paul Skenes trade take

Though most baseball fans might officially be done with the sport if the Los Angeles Dodgers traded for Paul Skenes, ESPN's MLB insider Jeff Passan took a strong stance against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday during his appearance on the Pat McAfee show.

To put it bluntly, the Pirates are as bad as it gets. In some ways, they are inferior to the MLB-worst Colorado Rockies. They just hit a franchise-worst mark as they endure an historic drought on the offensive end. They fired their manager and it made no difference. They are 14-29 and right on pace with the similarly-lowly Chicago White Sox.

What's perhaps even more concerning, however, is that the Pirates have someone as impactful as Skenes on the pitching side and Oneil Cruz on the position player side and they're still this bad. The Rockies and White Sox don't even come close to possessing players of that caliber.

And somehow, despite the Pirates' somewhat attractive situation when it comes to attempting to build a core, they continue to stumble. Help might seem like it's on the way due to the fact they've had so many favorable draft positions over the years, but they have the 14th-ranked farm system in the league. What's perhaps even more concerning? They literally have no offensive help on the way. Most of that farm system value is with their pitching talent.

So if the Pirates' current rebuild flops (if it hasn't already), then what do they do with Skenes? Because Passan doesn't seem to think the right-hander has any incentive to sign a contract extension with Pittsburgh.

Dodgers Rumors: Paul Skenes trade buzz could increase as Pirates collapse

Remember when Skenes dominated at Dodger Stadium earlier this season and all LA fans were fixated on were his compliments on the environment? Skenes is from Southern California and grew up an Angels fan (but that's beside the point). We've seen the Dodgers' location benefit them many times, with players like Freddie Freeman and Tyler Glasnow (Calfornia natives) as well as Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki (international stars who chose the best contender closest to their native Japan).

Skenes cannot force or orchestrate a trade of any kind — this isn't the NFL or NBA. But he could deny any possible Pirates overtures at a contract extension, which would then commence a ticking time bomb for his (likely) eventual departure. That's where Passan jumped in to mention the possibility of a trade, because it would be a massive blow to the Pirates' franchise if they let a player as talented as Skenes leave in free agency for only draft pick compensation.

A player of Skenes' stature could completely reverse the fortunes of a downtrodden organization, and the Dodgers are customarily overloaded with talent at all levels. And we know they wouldn't waste a second in parting with younger players in order to acquire Skenes and sign him to what will probably be an historic contract.

Passan doesn't mention the Dodgers, but simply by saying the word "trade" alongside the pessimistic extension prediction (and the fact that teams might call the Pirates as early as this year's trade deadline), LA fans will have no other option but to dream disgustingly big for the next four seasons.