Pittsburgh Pirates: Ben Cherington Needs to be Better

A lot can be said about the Pittsburgh Pirates over the last two months of the season. We have made it known on Twitter our displeasure with how things have gone. While a lot of the blame can easily be placed on the players or the coaches, Ben Cherington needs to be held more accountable and also start treating the fan base better.

What do I mean by this? Earlier this week he basically admitted that the Pittsburgh Pirates, who now have a losing record, have surpassed their expectations:

Congrats, you surprised teams because we are not on track to lose 100 games again? Everyone can see what has taken place in the last month of the season. The holes on this team are becoming more and more glaring by the day yet the answers are Minor League journeymen.

The Pittsburgh Pirates got off to a great start and everything was great. Then the fan base was quickly shown that they need not get too excited. The Oneil Cruz injury shook this team there is no doubt about that at this point. Since he has been out of the lineup the team is 19-24. They played really well at first, but they took advantage of some other poor teams like the Reds, Cardinals, and Rockies.

However, whenever they were swept by Tampa it was shown that this offense was missing the threat of Oneil Cruz. Instead, they replaced him with Chris Owings. Nothing against Chris Owings he has had a Major League career and is a fine veteran. However, he is not an impact player at any level. Yes, this team needed someone who could play shortstop, but they also decided to leave Tucapita Marcano down instead.

Ben Cherington did not prioritize bringing up the best talent available at the position, who HAS Major League experience. Instead, he presented the clubhouse with a guy that will probably be off the roster before the All-Star Break. There is no sense of urgency to win shown in a move like that, especially to a clubhouse and fan base that knows they are exceeding expectations.

Instead, Ben Cherington has basically told us to be patient we aren't supposed to be this good yet. Just like Neal Huntington use to do, pushing their vision onto the fan base like we are not watching what is taking place. Super-2 is a word that no one wants to hear or talk about. In a day and age when there is more exposure to prospects and their numbers it is hard to hide talent.

If the player gets the proper amount of service time, then they become eligible for a fourth year of arbitration which could mean multiple millions of dollars. This is more than a team like the Bucs want to spend or project to spend. That also would not affect the Organization until 6 seasons down the road. That is the joke of it, it is not an immediate consequence. If the player is still on your team at that point then he probably is worth the money you are paying him.

Ben Cherington needs to start turning this around. The spark this fan base had from good baseball was the most excitement for the Bucs in years. Instead of going for it and calling up the best players (who are Big League-ready), we settle for the hopes that we do not have to pay these players too much more than we have to. Is it about winning? How can it be when we sit here on the cusp of June knowing that Endy Rodriguez and/or Henry Davis are still in the minors? But there will be a relief as Super-2 passes they will call up their two best-hitting prospects.

It is Ben Cherington's way out, the calendar keeps moving. All he had to do was kick the can down the road for an extra month and now here were are with a better record than he expected and now he will promote his hitters like he is making an aggressive impactful move. When really if he was urgent about winning he would have made that move a month ago instead of watching the offense drown and the fan base with it. We know the Super-2 game stop with the half-truths and misdirecting.