More evidence emerges suggesting Pirates should hand Ben Cherington his pink slip

By now, it's been well documented that the Pittsburgh Pirates are squandering another precious year of Paul Skenes' generational greatness toward a seventh straight losing season. But this particular losing season may somehow end up being even worse than the others.

According to Jay Jaffe of FangGaphs, the Pirates are in danger of becoming the first AL or NL team since the start of the 20th century to finish the season without a single hitter producing at a league-average level or better. In this instance, productivity is measured based on weighted runs created plus (wRC+), a statistic that measures a player's total offensive production by taking runs created and adjusting the number to account for external factors like ballpark and era.

The league average wRC+ is 100, meaning that the Pirates currently have just one have player – 37-year-old Tommy Pham (102) – producing at an above-average level. That's due in large part to a recent hot streak that saw him hit .388 in July, and all it would take is a good slump to send him back below average with the rest of his teammates.

Behind Pham, the Pirates have seven players with a wRC+ in the 90s: Spencer Horwitz (99), Nick Gonzales (98), Andrew McCutchen (98), Joey Bart (94), Bryan Reynolds (94), Liover Peguero (94) and Oneil Cruz (92). This is a team that had five players finish with a wRC+ of 100 or better last season, not to mention five who were projected to finish with above-average marks in 2025. As a team, the Pirates rank second-to-last in the majors with an 82 wRC+.

More offensive evidence emerges suggesting Pirates should hand Ben Cherington his pink slip

If FanGraphs' projections are correct, the Pirates have a fighting chance at avoiding dubious history and finishing with up to five hitters in the above-average category. If not, they are in danger of joining some rather undesirable company as one of just 11 teams since 1901 with two or fewer hitters to clear the 100-mark.

The fact that this is a not-so-remote possibility should be reason enough for the Pirates to finally move on from the architect of the team who got them to this point. Despite occasional flashes in prospect development, Ben Cherington's tenure as general manager in Pittsburgh has seen consistently poor results on the field: weak offense, losing records and a development system that hasn't translated into MLB success.

The overarching narrative of the Cherington era in Pittsburgh has been one of unmet expectations and stagnant progress. That stagnation has turned into regression as the Pirates face the possibility of finishing the season as one of the worst offensive teams in history, and the team will only continue on that path as long as Cherington is in charge.

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