Scathing Pirates roast shows how far Pittsburgh has come in a month

Sometimes, it's better to fake it 'till you make it than do nothing at all. This is why Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Ben Cherington and the rest of the front office shouldn't be chided for their performative offer to Kyle Schwarber earlier in the offseason.

While certain fans and analysts poked fun at Pittsburgh's offer to Schwarber (including Foul Territory's Erik Kratz), the Pirates' offseason moves since then have been not only dead serious, but highly respectable.

Pirates' awesome offseason weakens critics who laughed at Pittsburgh's Kyle Schwarber offer

Following the Schwarber offer, the Pirates went out and got themselves not one, but two All-Star bats in Brandon Lowe and Ryan O'Hearn. The Lowe trade was Cherington at his very best, leveraging Pittsburgh's trove of assets to go out and get a guy to help the team win now.

Lost in the shuffle of Lowe's stardom were the further acquisitions of two very good assets in Mason Montgomery and Jake Mangum in the deal.

Cherington followed up the Lowe deal three days later with another splash: Ryan O'Hearn on a two-year, $29 million deal. O'Hearn became the first multi-year free agent signing by the Pirates since 2016, signaling that Pittsburgh was very much back in business as an aggressive spender committed to winning.

A couple of less glamorous moves also deserve attention. The Pirates signed veteran reliever Gregory Soto and also acquired gifted hitter Jhostynxon García from the Red Sox (he was one of Boston's top five overall prospects). To snag García, Cherington took advantage of Pittsburgh's excellent starting pitching depth and sent Johan Ovideo to Boston. It was no sweat off of Cherington's back, and he got a really promising young player in García who has star potential and is more aligned with Pittsburgh's timeline.

All in all, it's been an extremely successful offseason for Cherington and the Pirates. One might even say it's been the best in nearly a decade. After hiring Don Kelly in November, Pittsburgh made it clear that a massive culture shift was on the menu. Cherington's moves have only lent further credence to that promise.

People can laugh all they want about the Pirates making a "pointless" offer to Schwarber, but it ultimately achieved the goal of getting Pittsburgh in the headlines and increasing brand visibility. If Cherington's offseason had ended there, the jokes would have been warranted. But he was only getting started.