PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Joey Bart is out awhile. We will do what is best for the team with Jared Jones. Bubba Chandler is staying in MLB and more on the bullpen.
Jared Jones-team first
Coming back from missing last year due to Tommy John surgery, the 24-year-old righty will start in AA Altoona Sunday night and then Cherington expects him to make at least one more rehab start before he would be eligible to return off the injured list on May 25.
As for the burning question if he will be a starter?
“We don’t know exactly what is going to happen,” Cherington said with Jason Mackey on the Pirates Insider Show. “Our job is to put together the best 13-man pitching staff we can. We need to put the team first in that. We everyone to buy into that, whatever that means.”
“We need the 13 best pitchers on the team to win games consistently. Obviously, we believe Jared is one of those 13 and we certainly believe he’s a starting pitcher as we look at him in the future. We will see. We will get there and do the best we can to put the team first.”
Cherington said most importantly, the stuff is there, Jones is healthy and things are going ‘in a really good direction’.
GM on bullpen
Cherington brought up the adage we hear often about Pittsburgh weather, if you don’t like it now, wait a minute because it will change. He said that is applicable here because generally bullpens are more volatile.
“Sometimes the best thing to do with a bullpen that isn’t as consistent as we need it to be, is simply to wait it out,” Cherington said on 93.7 The Fan and the Pirates Radio Network. “That being said, clearly we are not just sitting back and waiting for that to happen.”
He believes in the internal improvement of the group. There may be pitchers currently not in the bullpen that can help there. And the possibility of an external addition. Cherington said teams are starting to talk about moves and he said the Pirates are engaged and on the phone.
“When and if we do find something that we believe with confidence that can help our team get better, we will be ready to pounce on that,” Cherington said on the Pirates Insider Show with Jason Mackey. “We got to do the work to find that. It’s early in the season and typically these trades don’t happen this early which is why, generally speaking, more of our energy is focused on our internal solutions this early.”
Ryan O'Hearn out for potentially a month
No movement Bubba
The Bucs top pitching prospect coming into the season, Bubba Chandler is 1-5 with a 5.14 ERA through nine starts. Owning high velocity stuff, Chandler walked four in three innings on Saturday throwing 73 pitches. In May the right-hander has walked 11 in 13 innings while striking out nine with a 1.62 WHIP.
“Some of it is just dominating counts, we’ve talked about that,” Cherington said on 93.7 The Fan and the Pirates Radio Network. “Is that more about process-how is he getting behind in counts? Or is it more physical-delivery and location, it can be a little bit of both. Those things can interact with each other. We’ve seen Bubba in the past go through stretches where he does have a little harder time controlling the walks and then all of a sudden for six weeks he’s not walking anybody.”
“He an elite athlete. He’s capable of making adjustments. He’s so important to the organization and has just a big upside, we just got to hang with him and keep pushing him. He’s too important and I believe his next outing will be better.”
Bart out for a bit
When initially hearing about a foot infection, the thought might be that Joey Bart will be out a short time, Cherington said it’s not the case.
“Joey will be fine long-term, he’s going to get past this but because of the nature of that cut and where it was and the treatment, we got to make sure it’s 100% ok before he starts baseball activity again,” Cherington said Sunday. “Unfortunately we are probably looking at weeks, not days. Fully confident he will play baseball in 2026.”
Cherington said Bart developed an open wound on his foot and the infection got in there. He credited the Pirates medical team for getting after it quickly. Now it’s an opportunity for Endy Rodriguez, who is currently in the big leagues, or Rafael Flores, who was acquired from the Yankees in the David Bednar trade.
“Certainly feel good that we have a debate to have between Endy and Flores, two catchers on the 40-man that we believe in,” Cherington said.
LISTEN to Ben Cherington on Pirates Insider Show
LISTEN to Ben Cherington on Pirates Insider Show
