Ben Cherington deserves none of the credit for the Pittsburgh Pirates' solid second half

The Pittsburgh Pirates are doing something they usually don’t do. Instead of having a solid first half before collapsing in the second half like they’ve been known to do, they followed up their poor first half with a solid summer. However, the Pirates cannot attribute any of that success to their general manager, Ben Cherington. This cannot be used as an excuse by the organization to bring him back for another year next season.

Since May 10, the Pirates are 51-54, a winning percentage narrowly below .500. That may not be great, but it is a lot better than the .333 win rate the Pirates carried through their first 39 games of the season. The Pirates have since played 47 games since the All-Star break, going 25-22. Only five teams across all of Major League Baseball have more wins than the Pirates do since the break.

Even if you want to attribute the Pirates’ solid second half to Cherington, it still doesn’t hide his previous poor work. He has had nearly five full MLB and minor league seasons to find and develop a hitter of his own, and has very little to show for it. So far, Joey Bart stands as the only Cherington acquisition with a wRC+ of at least 100 in the Major Leagues. He and Jack Suwinski, of all players, have the most fWAR among any position players Cherington has acquired. So far, only two of the players Cherington acquired at the deadline have played in the Major Leagues: Cam Devanney and Evan Sisk. 

Ben Cherington doesn't deserve any credit for the Pirates' run, but his manager should.

Cherington’s last two seasons definitely show why he needs to go. The Pirates went from a 62-win team in 2022 to a 76-win team in 2023, a massive 14-game improvement. You’d think that at least a .500 season would be in store for the Pirates in 2024, given they improved by 14 games without a healthy Oneil Cruz for most of the season, had recently drafted Paul Skenes, and planned on Jared Jones opening the year on the Major League roster. But instead the Pirates stalled out, winning 76 contests once again. They were two games over .500 at the end of July, but completely fell off a cliff after that. 

Cherington’s acquisitions over the last two years are the reason why the Pirates stalled out. His additions to the roster between 2023 and 2024 were Martín Pérez, Rowdy Tellez, Edward Olivares, and Michael A. Taylor. His deadline acquisitions (which were his ‘buy now’ movies) included Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Bryan De La Cruz, and two prospects they refused to use in 2025. Tommy Pham, Andrew Heaney, Caleb Ferguson, and Spencer Horwitz made up his most recent offseason finds. The only possible excuse one could make for Cherington is that he has been given little to work with in the first place. While that may be true, he hasn't done anything with what he has been given to play around with.

If anyone deserves the praise for this success, it needs to be manager Don Kelly. Kelly is sitting at around .500 after the Pirates fired Derek Shelton on May 9 and moved Kelly into the manager role. He is putting the Pirates in a good position heading into the offseason - despite Cherington’s roster, not because of Cherington’s work. Kelly has done all of this while Cherington has given him a bare bones lineup to start with, let alone the fact that he traded his borderline Platinum Glove third baseman and his top-tier closing pitcher. 

The Pirates are doing well right now because of Don Kelly’s managerial work, not because of Ben Cherington’s work as a general manager. Cherington has barely given Kelly anything to work with regarding the lineup. He has come up well short in many aspects of player development, at least when it comes to hitters. This hot stretch is not a reason for Cherington to return, and it shouldn't overshadow a complete lack of urgency to capatalize on a 14-game improvement from 2022 to 2023.