NEW YORK (AP) — On the eve of opening day, Paul Skenes set forth lofty goals for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“We want to win the division. We want to make the playoffs. That’s it. How we do that, who knows?" the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner said Wednesday.
"I don’t want to put a number of games out there because that’s just putting a ceiling on us. We’ve got to go out there and play well every day.”
That pursuit begins Thursday, when Skenes pitches for the Pirates against Juan Soto, Bo Bichette and a revamped New York Mets lineup in a nationally televised opener at Citi Field.
Freddy Peralta makes his Mets debut on the mound after the two-time All-Star was acquired from Milwaukee in a January trade.
“I know that he’s great," the right-hander said of Skenes. "I just see it that I’m competing against him, you know what I’m saying? Because I know it’s going to be probably a tough day for the offense. And it makes me better when I know that I have that kind of pitcher on the mound.”
Even thinking about the postseason is a notable step forward for the thrifty Pirates, who finished last in the NL Central at 71-91 last season. They haven't won a division title since 1992 or qualified for the playoffs since 2015.
Pittsburgh, however, is developing a promising rotation fronted by Skenes, and the club added second baseman Brandon Lowe, designated hitter Marcell Ozuna and right fielder Ryan O'Hearn in the offseason to punch-up an offense that ranked last in the majors in runs (583) and homers (117) last year. Konnor Griffin, a 19-year-old shortstop rated baseball's No. 1 prospect, could reach the majors soon.
New players, young talent — better vibes.
“It’s certainly different now, and I’m really excited to see where it’s going to be in two months,” said Skenes, set to make his second consecutive opening-day start after helping the United States reach the championship game of the World Baseball Classic this month.
“We have a good team. Now we’ve got to go out there and win.”
Both teams worked out Wednesday in Queens, where the big-budget Mets will field a new-look squad in 2026 after collapsing in the second half last year and missing the playoffs.
Gone are perennial fan favorites Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, Edwin Díaz and Jeff McNeil. In their place are first baseman Jorge Polanco, center fielder Luis Robert Jr., closer Devin Williams and second baseman Marcus Semien, all newcomers.
Polanco, mostly a middle infielder throughout his career, is switching positions. So is Bichette, a shortstop with Toronto before signing with the Mets as a free agent to play third base.
Soto moves from right field to left as New York tries to improve defense. Heralded prospect Carson Benge starts in right after the 2024 first-round draft pick zipped through three minor league levels last season — though he struggled at the plate in a 24-game stint at Triple-A Syracuse.
“He doesn't get too high, he doesn’t get too low. I was surprised that I finally got a smile from him when I delivered the news the other day when I was telling him that he made the team,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “But it goes to show you that he’s very mature, and to be able to play at this level on a team that has high expectations, you need that consistency, you need that type of personality.”
Mendoza said the 23-year-old Benge, who will wear No. 3, is “ready for this level” and is "going to play a lot."
Benge draws the unenviable task of making his major league debut against Skenes, who has already started two All-Star Games as he enters his third big league season.
The 23-year-old right-hander led the National League with a 1.97 ERA and 0.95 WHIP last season, going 10-10 with 216 strikeouts in 32 starts.
“I can do better this year. There are ways to get better. Just got to go out there and execute," Skenes said. "Execute pitches more consistently.”
While the Pirates are looking to become contenders again, the Mets expect more. They're chasing their first World Series crown in 40 years.
"It has certainly been too long. I feel that as much as anyone,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said.
Left-handed hitter Jared Young won the final bench spot over utilityman Vidal Brujan as New York set its opening-day roster. Richard Lovelady was picked over fellow left-hander Bryan Hudson to round out the bullpen.
Left-handed reliever A.J. Minter was placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to March 22, as he continues to recover from left lat surgery last year. Brujan, Hudson and catcher Ben Rortvedt were designated for assignment.
“I think it’s a well-balanced group and a group that seems to be coming together pretty well right now," Stearns said. “I like where we are. Now we’ve got to go and play.”
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United States pitcher Paul Skenes (30) aims a pitch during the first inning of a World Baseball Classic semifinal game against the Dominican Republic, Sunday, March 15, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's special envoy to Belarus recently revealed that he helped ingratiate himself with the country's autocratic leader by echoing Alexander Lukashenko's disdain for Europe with vulgar language and by negotiating his way through a boozy lunch during their first meeting.
The envoy, John Coale, who has been charged with working to win the release of hundreds of political prisoners from the East European country, said State Department officials advised him before the initial meeting with Lukashenko that he likes to “yuck it up, so we yucked it up.”
"About a half-hour, 45 minutes into it, I am trying to get the feel of who this guy is and how to communicate," Coale said at a recent appearance at Arizona State University's McCain Institute. “He starts complaining about the Europeans — Europeans this, Europeans that. So — and this is kind of crude and I’m sorry for the language — but I said to him, ‘Yeah, they’re a bunch of p———.’ So, I had him in my hand from then on.”
Coale offered the anecdote as a window into his efforts to build a relationship with the Belarusian leader, who is closely tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin and has sought to improve relations with the West since Trump's return to the White House.
Coale in an interview on Wednesday defended his rhetoric. “If I have to use locker room language to get 500 political prisoners released, I will do it every time," he told The Associated Press.
In 2016, a recording of Trump using the same vulgarity caused a major controversy during the president's first run for the White House, leading to a rare apology from Trump, who described it as private “locker room talk.”
To be certain, Coale is not the first U.S. diplomat to use less than diplomatic language about Europeans.
In 2014, Victoria Nuland, at the time the top U.S. diplomat for European and Eurasian affairs, apologized after a recording of a snippet of private conversation leaked in which she used salty language to vent about Europe’s hesitant policy over the pro-democracy protests in Ukraine. In 2003, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher faced heat in the early months of the Iraq War for dismissively referring to France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg — countries that opposed U.S. policy in Iraq — as the “chocolate makers.”
And Trump has sparred with European leaders over a long list of issues, including tariffs, contributions to NATO and his desire to acquire Greenland.
Coale, a Maryland attorney, was appointed by Trump in March 2025 as his deputy special envoy to Ukraine. In June, he help win the release of 14 political prisoners from Belarus. Months later, Trump announced he was elevating Coale to serve as his special envoy to Belarus. He is married to TV journalist Greta Van Susteren.
The envoy, during a conference on hostage-taking and arbitrary detention hosted by the non-profit think tank named after the late Sen. John McCain, made the case that his “very direct” diplomacy is reaping benefits with Lukashenko.
Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, and the country has been sanctioned repeatedly by Western countries — both for its political oppression and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Belarus has released hundreds of political prisoners in exchange for sanctions relief since Trump returned to the White House as Lukashenko has sought to build better relations with the U.S. under the Republican leader.
Coale said his first meeting with Lukashenko stretched into a two-hour lunch, during which he poured shots of vodka on to the floor when his host wasn't looking to avoid becoming intoxicated. Coale joked he managed to limit himself to two shots, but said that some of his State Department colleagues who joined him at the meeting drank many more.
“All these toasts started — I can’t get hammered,” Coale said. "Of course, there were a couple State Department guys who drank all eight toasts and they were hammered.”
Lukashenko’s rule was challenged after a 2020 presidential election, when tens of thousands poured into the streets to protest a vote they viewed as rigged. They were the largest demonstrations since Belarus became independent following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
In an ensuing crackdown, tens of thousands were detained, with many beaten by police. Prominent opposition figures either fled the country or were imprisoned.
Five years after the mass demonstrations, Lukashenko won a seventh term last year in an election that the opposition called a farce.
More recently, Belarus has freed some political prisoners to try to win favor with the West, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and prominent opposition figures Siarhei Tsikhanouski, Viktar Babaryka and Maria Kolesnikova.
Last week, Lukashenko ordered the release of 250 political prisoners as part of a deal with Washington that lifted some U.S. sanctions, the latest step in the isolated leader’s effort to improve ties with the West. It was the largest one-time release of political prisoners in the country.
Lukashenko pardoned the prisoners after meeting with Coale in Minsk. Coale hailed the release as a “significant humanitarian milestone” and a testament to Trump’s “commitment to direct, hard-nosed diplomacy.”
The McCain Institute event took place days before the latest release of political prisoners. Coale predicted then that the Trump administration would be able to win the release of all of political prisoners by the end of the year.
“I'd be willing to bet on that,” said Coale, who added he was planning additional trips to Belarus in the near future that he expected to result in the release of a “couple hundred” more political prisoners. “I think this type of diplomacy that Donald Trump has pushed forward does work.”
AP Diplomatic Writer Matt Lee contributed to this report.
In this photo released by Belarusian presidential press service, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, right, and U.S. Presidential envoy John Coale talk during their meeting in Minsk, Belarus, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Belarusian Presidential Press Service via AP)
FILE - U.S. Presidential envoy John Coale, speaks to journalists outside the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sept. 11, 2025, ahead of the arrival of released prisoners from Belarus. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis, file)
