Pirates GM takes blame after another disappointing season
The Pittsburg Pirates had such potential. Now they have nothing but blame to pass around following another disappointing season. General Manager Ben Cherington is taking his fair share but the organization is sending signals on what they think went wrong with some staff changes.
“We need to get better, and we need to get better faster,” Cherington said, per Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“Ultimately, that falls on me. I’m responsible for all of baseball operations. If we’re talking about wins and losses, which is ultimately what we need to improve, that’s going to be driven in Pittsburgh, certainly in part, by improvement of players at the major league level, but also largely through continuing to be better at the draft and getting more out of our international scouting operation.”
As for what that looks like from a front-office roster-building perspective? The Pirates already have a list of free-agent targets. Cherington wants to squeeze more out of what is already available, however.
“Getting more out of trades, getting more out of minor league player development. All of that matters, absolutely, and ultimately, I’m responsible for all of that. We weren’t good enough…Ultimately, again, that’s on me. I’ve got to find a way to be better and build the roster into a better spot.”
Pirates already making changes before free agency
Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK
Finding scapegoats is sometimes difficult internally but figuring out who the organization blames is easy for those outside of the building. The Pirates axed hitting coach Andy Haines and bullpen coach Justin Meccage already. There have also been some front-office signings to kickstart the winter off-season revamp. Pirates’ free agency moves are yet to be determined.
“To some extent, what we need to do, what I believe we need to do, is develop just more cohesion, tighter alignment, tighter connection inside our major league group so that work that goes toward getting players better faster is happening better and faster all the time,” Cherington said. “It’s not that we can’t do it. We have examples that we are doing that. Believe that we need to do it better and faster all the time. Ultimately felt like some changes were necessary to help us do that.”
Cherinton did confirm that skipper Derek Shelton will be back in the dugout to start next season.
“I believe he can help lead us toward winning in 2025,” Cherington said. “I believe he already does a lot of the aspects of the job very well and at a high level. I believe he works as hard as any manager in the game, and I certainly believe he cares as much as any manager in the game. Like all of us, certainly including me, he has targets that he needs to improve on, and I believe he is fully aware of those. I believe he’s committed to working on those, and I believe he understands the team needs to ultimately respond to him and we’ll go into 2025 together, accountable together.”
The post Pirates GM takes blame after another disappointing season appeared first on ClutchPoints.
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