Report: Pittsburgh Pirates To Hire Ben Cherington As New General Manager

After spending a little over two weeks searching, the Pittsburgh Pirates have a new general manager

On October 28th, the Pittsburgh Pirates fired general manager Neal Huntington. This ended Huntington’s 12 year tenure as the team’s general manager. After spending a little over two weeks searching, the team now has a new general manager.

According to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, former Boston Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington has been hired as the new general manager of the Pirates. Prior to being hired by the Pirates, Cherington was working in the Toronto Blue Jays’ organization as their vice president of baseball operations.

Cherington was hired as the Red Sox general manager following the 2011 season. He served as the Red Sox general manager through the 2015 season. As general manager in Boston, Cherington built a World Series Championship club in 2013.

In addition to winning the World Series in 2013 as general manager of the Red Sox, Cherington also did a lot of the heavy lifting that led to the Sox winning the 2018 World Series.

Prior to being relieved of his duties as Red Sox general manager Cherington built a strong farm system in Boston. This farm system produced many of the players that contributed to Boston’s 2018 World Series Championship club. Also, multiple trades that were made by the Red Sox to help assemble their 2018 roster included players that were brought into the farm system by Cherington.

After being relieved of his duties in Boston, Cherington took a year away from baseball. In fact, he was offered a job in the Pirates’ front office by Huntington before deciding to take time away from the game. Then in September of 2016 he was hired by the Blue Jays. With the Blue Jays, Cherington has helped to orchestrate the restocking of a previously poor farm system. With the help of Cherington, the Blue Jays have put together one of the best collections of young talent in all of baseball.

The Cherington hire is a strong one by the Pirates. He has a great track record and Pirate fans should have high expectations for Cherington as the team’s new general manager. Welcome to Pittsburgh, Ben!