Ben Cherington's Henry Davis defense after Joey Bart trade is impossible to take seriously

The Pirates trading Joey Bart was defensible. Their explanation for choosing Henry Davis over him was not.

Bart was out of minor league options. Endy Rodríguez has forced his way into the equation with his bat. Davis, as a former No. 1 overall pick who is still pre-arbitration and still has theoretical upside, was always going to get every possible opportunity from this front office. There was a roster crunch. A decision had to be made. Fine.

But then Ben Cherington went on his weekly radio show Sunday and tried to sell this as the Pirates choosing the “best balance of offense and defense” by keeping Rodríguez and Davis.

Seriously?

Davis is batting .136 with a .238 on-base percentage and a .518 OPS. There is no way to massage that into something even remotely respectable. There is no “process” explanation convincing enough to make those numbers look like anything other than what they are: completely unacceptable production from a player the Pirates are continuing to protect at all costs.

Cherington’s defense of Davis was especially hard to stomach. He chocked Davis' abysmal numbers up to "bad luck" and yet again expressed blind faith that an offensive breakout is still coming.

The "bad luck" explanation might work for a two-week slump or a player barreling balls directly at defenders while still showing signs of being a functional Major League hitter. It does not work when a former No. 1 overall pick is sitting at .136 with a .238 OBP and has been worth negative value over the course of his career. At some point, the Pirates have to stop grading Davis on the curve of what they hoped he would become and start judging him by what he actually is right now.

Right now, Davis is not hitting enough to justify regular at-bats. He's not reaching base enough to justify patience. He's not producing enough to make the “bad luck” defense remotely believable. And if his value is supposed to come almost entirely from defense, then that defense has to be good enough to transform the pitching staff every time he's behind the plate.

Cherington praised Davis for his defensive element, saying he “shuts down the running program of the other team” and brings toughness. Paul Skenes backed him publicly, too, saying Davis and Rodríguez help the pitching staff and that the move represented a vote of confidence.

That's all well and good. Pitchers are supposed to support their catchers. And in fairness, Davis has worked to become a better defensive catcher after entering pro ball with real questions about whether he could even stick behind the plate. But the Pirates are no longer in a position where effort and marginal improvement should be enough.

This is a team that has wasted far too many chances to climb into real contention because the offense has been a recurring embarrassment. So when the front office keeps a catcher hitting .136 and frames it as part of the best “balance of offense and defense,” an eye roll is the only appropriate response.

Pirates doubling down on Henry Davis after Joey Bart trade is indefensible

The Pirates continue to talk about Davis like the results are just around the corner, even as the actual production keeps screaming otherwise. That's where the Bart trade becomes so frustrating.

Again, moving Bart made sense from a roster standpoint. But the Pirates’ public defense of the decision makes it feel less like a cold evaluation and more like another example of organizational stubbornness. Bart didn't have the same flexibility, he was getting more expensive, and he wasn't part of the long-term plan in the same way Davis and Rodríguez are.

So just say that. Say Rodríguez earned his spot. Say Davis still has options, years of control and traits the organization believes in. Say the Braves made an offer that helped the bullpen and the Pirates had to make a difficult decision.

But don't tell fans this was about the best offensive and defensive balance when one half of that equation is batting .136. Don't ask anyone to pretend a .238 OBP is merely bad luck. Don't insult the intelligence of a fan base that has watched Davis struggle for long enough to know this is not some tiny-sample mirage.

The Pirates have invested heavily in Davis, emotionally and organizationally. They drafted him first overall. They moved him around defensively. They have continued giving him chances because the alternative is admitting that one of the most important draft decisions of the Cherington era has not come close to working out.

That doesn't mean Davis can never become a useful player, but it does mean the excuses have to stop. If Davis is going to stay on the roster, he needs to be better. Not just “better” as in dragging his average to the Mendoza Line and calling it progress. Better as in becoming a real Major League contributor, helping the pitchers enough to justify the offensive void and giving the Pirates something tangible instead of another empty promise that the underlying numbers will eventually turn into production.

Because this wasn't just the Pirates moving Bart. This was the Pirates choosing Davis — again — and then asking everyone to believe the numbers are lying. And instead of justifying the decision, Cherington's explanation made it sound even more detached from reality.

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