I don't think it's a given that Skenes will be shut down. Maybe he will, but Shelton expressly said yesterday he wouldn't be. If Jones does come back, the injury would allow him to pitch into September and even October - he's only at 91 innings. If he comes back in mid-August and gets 8 starts, he'd be around 140 or so.
I agree. I don't take Shelton or Cherington at the word much, but I think all signs point to us doing whatever we can to have Skenes finish the season, even if that's in October. I think we're going to try to do what we can to keep a 6-man rotation going and that we might even pick a spot or two to skip him. Once the calendar gets to September, that would be possible via an Ashcraft spot start, for example, and Priester is obviously available for that kind of thing as well.
I haven't gamed out the exact math, and obviously we're going to protect the arm, but I think it could be well within the cards. Skipping starts and stuff like that will be difficult given that every win is going to be huge, but I can still see it.
With Jones, I think we might slow roll his return for precisely this reason. There are a couple of questions to iron out first, mainly whether Falter's rehab goes fine and then secondly if Perez is dealt.
For Perez, I said this earlier in the week, but I think there's not much point in dealing him. He's a veteran who is well liked in the clubhouse, and he is still capable of turning in starts like today's. With how Arizona has struggled vs LHP, it would be nice to try and get him into that second series when we return home, but we'll see.
I could see the obvious desire to cash out in a seller's market, but 1) squeaking out 3 or 4 Perez starts might be a crucial component to extending Skenes' available innings further into the fall and 2) although teams are desperate for pitching, I can't see much of an offer being out there. Perez isn't a guy you want starting a playoff team if you are a contender, and while he could be somewhat effective out of the bullpen, his role is more valuable in just soaking up innings for the regular season. We should be the team deploying him in that role. If he had somehow strung together 4 or 5 straight starts like today and you could sell him for a plausible prospect, then sure, but there's no point in trading him for a lotto ticket or two given the circumstances IMO.