PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – After pulling out a 1-0 win on Saturday, Pirates GM Ben Cherington admits the offense needs work, but it’s not as bad as it appears with Bucco hitting. This even though the Pirates have averaged under two runs a game over the last 18 games.
Cherington believes in this group which is why you haven’t seen hot-hitting players come up from AAA.
“If you believe that there is better stuff to come, you don’t want to cut yourself off to that better stuff,” Cherington said during his show on 93.7 The Fan and the Pirates Radio Network.
Cherington said he looks at underlying data, meaning they are better than the results indicate. Plus, several of those struggling have a resume to show they will do better.
The Bucs general manager said they won’t just rely on the players past and that it will just happen. He said it’s not their business to do that, but they are clear and intentional about working on issues, being intentional as to specific adjustments that can be made.
“Our staff and our position players work their tails off every day to figure just that out,” Cherington said on 93.7 The Fan and the Pirates Radio Network. “What is the game telling us. If there is an adjustment, what is it telling us.”
Over the course of the season, Cherington said changes will be made for several reasons. He said its ultimately on him as to when it makes sense to do that. Their focus is more on fixing issues with the current players than looking for other options.
“We believe we can and believe we will score more runs over time,” Cherington said Sunday.
Why? If he haven’t seen in for a couple of weeks now? He said this is where the analytics come into play.
“We can pretty easily measure the decisions,” Cherington said on 93.7 The Fan and the Pirates Radio Network. “What pitches are hitters swinging at. We have the data to do that pretty precisely over time and we can add all of that up and make a pretty clear assessment-over time, this hitter is generally making the right decisions.”
“We can also measure the quality of the contact. How hard it’s hit? Where it is going? From that, we can make estimations on, if the quality of contact continues over the course of a season and it evens out, what would you expect the outcome to be.”
Cherington said right now they have a number of guys who are actually better than the numbers we have seen so far. He said bad luck, weather conditions and other factors play into the numbers not being better.
“It doesn’t mean as we look under the hood that everything is rosy,” Cherington admitted on 93.7 The Fan. “There are some things that do need to get better.”
Eventually that could require change, but nothing is imminent and patience will continue to be preached.
“You can make bigger mistakes cutting something off before you are about to get to the good stuff,” Cherington said.
That’s their mantra right now and they are sticking to it.