Ben Cherington’s terrible offseason has destined the Pirates for disappointment

The Pirates won 76 games for the second consecutive in 2024. The team enters 2025 with arguably the best starting pitcher in the game, along with a solid trio of hitters in the middle of the lineup.

General manager Ben Cherington had the opportunity to turn the Pirates into serious contenders in 2025 with one impactful addition to his lineup and one to his bullpen. Instead, Cherington sat on his hands, signed multiple veterans to cheap, one-year deals and doomed the franchise to another subpar season.

A failed free agency for the Pirates will doom 2025 season

The Bucs have the core pieces that any competent front office and owner would dream to build around to compete. However, Cherington and Bob Nutting did the exact opposite this winter. The club’s big free agent acquisitions were Tommy Pham, Adam Frazier, Tim Mayza, Caleb Ferguson and Andrew Heaney.

Pham enters his age-37 season following a 2024 where he slashed .258/.346/.427 with nine home runs, 20 doubles and 39 RBI. It appears he will lead off for the Pirates regularly to begin 2025. Frazier continued to regress last year. The now 36-year-old slashed .202/.282/294 with four home runs, 10 doubles and 22 RBI. That was Cherington’s solution to a stagnant 2024 offense.

Mayza and Ferguson fall in a class above Pham and Frazier, but both pitchers struggled in 2024. Mayza recorded a 6.33 ERA, only striking out 28 hitters, across 42.2 innings. However, the former Blue Jay did log a 1.52 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 53.1 innings in 2023.

Ferguson had a 4.64 ERA and fanned 67 over 54.1 innings pitched in a year ago. However, he has registered four of five professional seasons with a sub-3.50 ERA and two sub-2.90 ERA years with the Dodgers from 2018-23. Both arms must bounce back for the Pirates to potentially contend. Other more consistent and affordable options remained on the market for a long time, but Cherington seemed more than happy to land where he did.

Heaney begins the season as the fourth starter in the Pittsburgh rotation. The veteran lefty recorded a 4.28 ERA across 160.0 innings with Texas a year ago. He has only finished a season with a sub-4.00 ERA twice since entering the league in 2014. Again, better options remained unsigned when the Bucs inked Heaney to his one-year contract.

The only impactful move the front office made this offseason was the acquisition of Spencer Horwitz. The 27-year-old appeared 97 times at the major-league level with Toronto in 2024 where he hit 12 home runs, doubled 19 times, drove in 40 and slashed .265/.357/.433. Those power numbers translate to roughly 20 home runs, 32 doubles and 67 RBI in a full 162-game season.

However, Horwitz will begin 2025 on the injured list with a chronic wrist injury Cherington knew existed at the time of the trade. Pittsburgh will lean on Endy Rodriguez and Jared Triolo to start the season playing every day first base.

Pirates' Mishandling of Young Players

The Bucs break spring camp following a puzzling slew of roster moves. Young bats Henry Davis, Nick Yorke and Billy Cook all find themselves starting 2025 in the minor leagues. Davis continued to put together solid at bats this spring, and would have given manager Derek Shelton even more roster versatility. The decision to option Davis makes even less sense now that Rodriguez will play first on a regular basis.

Yorke and Cook also offer positional flexibility along with an injection of youth into the lineup. That contrasts with the hindering ages of Pham and Frazier, the players signed to hold the young players in the minor leagues. Yorke plays the same positions Frazier does. Cook plays the same positions Pham does, plus first base. The veteran signings simply make no sense.

Yorke slashed .303/.385/.449 with 12 homers, 33 doubles, 72 RBI and 21 stolen bases in the minors a year ago. Cook had a .251/.332/.455 slash line with 17 bombs, 24 doubles, 74 RBI and 25 stolen bases in MiLB last season. Both players arrived in Pittsburgh last September and began to produce following the initial adjustment period. Yorke and Cook would help this team more than Pham and Frazier will.

Cherington and his front office also made multiple questionable decisions with the pitching staff. Jared Jones’ injury and six-plus week shutdown opened a rotation spot. Instead of opting for the young option and actual starting pitcher like Bubba Chandler or Thomas Harrington, failed starter Carmen Mlodzinski earned the fifth starter role.

The issue does not sit in the fact he failed as a starter previously, but rather in his ability to find success as a reliever in a bullpen that needs all the help it can get. Caleb Ferguson could also help Mlodzinski in a piggyback role, which would take another potentially important bullpen piece and left-hander away from the unit. This issue was easily avoidable.

Speaking of the bullpen, Kyle Nicolas surprisingly finds himself beginning the year in Triple-A Indianapolis. Nicolas was a top two arm in the Pirate 'pen for most of the 2024 season. The hard-throwing righty finished the year with a 3.95 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 54.2 innings pitched. Omitting an MLB-caliber and experienced arm that can toss high-leverage innings off the initial roster remains a puzzling decision.

These decisions will cost the Pirates valuable wins in what appears as a very competitive National League Central Division. This is year six of Ben Cherington and Derek Shelton.