PITTSBURGH (93.7. The Fan) - The Pirates have officially announced Ben Cherington as the team’s new general manager.
The former World Series winning GM while with Boston will officially be introduced Monday at noon.
“This is an important step forward for our organization,” said Bob Nutting, Pirates Chairman of the Board. “Ben has an incredible track record of success having been a part of three World Championship teams in Boston, one as General Manager, and setting the table for a fourth. His passion and ability to identify, infuse and develop talent at every level, including at the Major League level, is exactly what we need to be successful in Pittsburgh.”
The 45-year-old Cherington joined the Red Sox in 1999, was the team’s Vice President/Player Personnel from 2006 thought 2008 and was general manager from 2011 thought 2015.
Cherington was Toronto’s Vice President of Baseball Operations for the past three years until accepting the Pittsburgh position.
Cherington said in a statement there are four areas he will focus on to bring playoff baseball back to Pittsburgh.
“Pittsburgh is the ideal opportunity for me, and the only one I was interested in exploring,” Cherington said. “The four pillars that will drive our success are elite talent identification, acquisition, development and deployment. My entire career has been spent focusing on developing great systems to be elite in these four critical areas, which will fuel our future success in Pittsburgh.
“I have always appreciated the passion of Pittsburgh sports fans,” Cherington added. “My sense is that Pirates fans appreciate hard work, honest effort, and people and players they can trust. All things that I can respect and identify with. My wife and I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of this community.”