Pittsburgh Pirates: The Future is in Good Hands With Ben Cherington

Since becoming the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Ben Cherington has steadily made the farm system stronger and, based on his resume, he has a lot more in store.

At the end of the 2019 regular season, the Pittsburgh Pirates were at the lowest point we had seen since their 20 year losing streak. Many fans were tired of the same excuses for losing, and something needed to be done, and the Pirates did just that.

The first wave of changes came when they fired manager Clint Hurdle on the last day of the regular season, ending his decade run as the team’s manager. The Pittsburgh Pirates weren’t done making cuts yet.

After Hurdle’s departure, pitching coach Ray Searage and bench coach Tom Prince were released just days after. In the final weeks of October, the Pirates let go president Frank Coonlley, and the big one being the firing of long time general manager Neal Huntington as well.

As much as some fans like to rag on Bob Nutting, he did take action, and in a big way by letting go five very prominent members of the Pirates’ staff. This completely set the Pittsburgh Pirates in revamp mode, and one of the Pirates best moves was replacing Huntington with the current general manager Ben Cherington, who knows how to build a team from within.

Since taking over the reigns as general manager, Ben Cherington has really built up the Pirates for a better tomorrow, and you should have a lot of faith in him. His first big move as general manager, player wise, was trading Starling Marte. Marte was a mainstay in the Pirate line up since their 2013 playoff berth. Marte had come off a year where he batted .295/.342/.503 with 23 home runs, 32 doubles, and 25 stolen bases.

All told, he had a 120 OPS+ and 119 wRC+. While he did have his defensive limitations in 2019, ranking last among center field DRS (-9), range runs above average (-9.5) and UZR (-7.6), he had ranked as a solid defender there in 2018 with +2 DRS and +3.2 UZR. With two years of affordable control left, Marte had a lot of value, and Cherington was sure to get as much as he could for the former all-star.

Cherington traded Marte to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and got back a pretty good package. In return, the Pirates got Liover Peguero and Brennan Malone. Both now rank as two of the Pirates best prospects. FanGraphs places Peguero as the team’s 7th best prospect, a borderline top 100, and was ranked as the 96th best prospect in baseball before the draft. He could easily find himself back on the top 100 radar when the season gets started.

Malone ranks as the team’s 9th best prospect, and was a first-round draft pick in 2019. He also ranks as the 140th best prospect in baseball, and at just 19 years old, he could find himself in the top 100 as well. Essentially, for Marte, the Pirates got a top 100 prospect, and a first round draft pick. A pretty good return.

You should also have faith in Cherington’s ability to identify talent. When Cherington was the general manager for the Red Sox, one of the many pieces he traded was left handed starter Jon Lester.

In 2014, the Pittsburgh Pirates were one of the front runners for the ace, but the team was unwilling to part with the one piece Cherington was demanding; Josh Bell. He also identified a lot of more underrated free agent talent during his time with the Red Sox.

He signed guys you never would have expected to play as large of roles as they did like in 2013 when Koji Ueraha, Jonny Gomes and Mike Carp, who combined for a 6.6 bWAR and 6.0 fWAR for just under $10 million. Ueraha was the best closer in the league, and Gomes and Carp were valuable role players. That’s just one example of many more where Cherington paid very little for players who ended up playing large roles for his teams.

Now, sure, he did make a few free agent signings that didn’t pan out like Pablo Sandoval and Hanely Ramirez, but not every GM is going to have a spotless record. These are the only two really notable blemishes on his resume.

Cherington’s ability to build a young core is very, very impressive. With the Red Sox, he was the one to sign Rafael Devers, and Yoan Moncada, draft Andrew Benintendi and Michael Kopech, and acquire Eduardo Rodriguez for Andrew Miller. While he didn’t draft Mookie Betts, he was the one there for most of his development into a major league player. Most of those players were big contributors to the Red Sox 2018 World Series run as well.

When he was with the Blue Jays, he was a major factor in Vladimir Guerrero Jr’s. development like he was with Betts, while also drafting Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio and Nate Pearson, signing Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and flipping a struggling and overpaid Francisco Liriano for Teoscar Hernandez. One of the most notable trades he helped to orchestrate with the Jays was trading Marcus Stroman at the 2019 deadline, and receiving Simeon Woods Richardson and Anthony Kay in return. Richardson ranks as the 80th best prospect in baseball, and Kay is the team’s 9th best prospect.

During the 2020 draft, Cherington, with the 7th overall pick, drafted Nick Gonzales, with the rest of his picks being pitchers. While many questioned selecting just one position player in this year’s draft, based on his track record so far, Cheington probably made the best decision possible. Gonzalez is already considered a top 100 prospect.

Cherington’s history with drafting, and signing international prospects is outstanding. He’s consistently brought in and developed very good players, many of which are all-star caliber, or better. Pirates fans should be glad they have Cherington manning the franchise now as he has a clear direction, and has already bolstered the Pirates’ farm system, setting them up for a much brighter future.