Pirates just lost their greatest internal strength (and Ben Cherington replacement)

As tough to support as the Pirates organization is right now, there have been some positives these past years. Even the prickliest fans cannot neglect the progress of their last few drafts, in which they snagged Konnor Griffin and Seth Hernandez early. While that might not seem like much, with both of them under 20 years old and in the minors, their talent has completely shifted the trajectory of the organization.

The one who deserves that credit is Justin Horowitz, the director of amatuer scouting. He oversaw the past two drafts, and the Pirates have been excellent in that field ever since. There are a handful names that he secured that make this farm system more exciting, but now the Pirates must turn elsewhere.

Horowitz is leaving the Pirates and will become the Nationals' assistant general manager under new leader Paul Toboni, according to Joe Doyle. Along with a handful of coaches in the dugout, the Pirates are now in search of a new director for amateur scouting. Given how well Horowitz has done with Pittsburgh, the Pirates are going to need to make a splash to make up for the loss. The MLB Draft is so important for a team like the Pirates that do not spend in free agency.

The biggest thing that hurts? Other teams clearly view him as capable guy in the general manager role, and Pittsburgh desperately needs a new one.

Pirates lose Justin Horowitz to Nationals, who happened to be the perfect Ben Cherington replacement.

While they are committed to Ben Cherington right now as the general manager, missing out on the opportunity to replace him with Horowitz stings. It wouldn't have necessarily needed to be a clean house, either, as Horowitz was familiar with everything Pittsburgh had to offer, and he stocked the minors with plenty of talent.

Those represent key elements of the job that Cherington apparently needed six seasons to rebuild. If they'd promoted Horowitz, an internal candidate, the Pirates' makeover probably wouldn't have taken such a long rebuild. Maybe none at all. No matter what, losing him really hurts. He was about the only positive guy who was a part of the baseball operations team.

That's a big loss, especially given the important role he took in Washington. The Pirates absolutely need to go all in on a guy similar to Horowitz for their amateur scouting leading. Unexpectedly, Pittsburgh has even more jobs to look replace this offseason.