PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – If you are a Pirates fan who is underwhelmed so far with the Pirates offseason, the team’s general manager says they are only 50% of the way through the offseason.
Ben Cherington told KDKA Pirates pre-and-post-game host Dan Zangrilli they are just at the midway point of moves. Cherington said the Pirates are still working to make the team better and notes they’ve been in talks with some players for months who are still available. It’s about finding the time when salaries are in a range where they feel like they can pull the trigger.
“There is plenty of stuff we could have done, the price just wasn’t right,” Cherington told KDKA Radio. “We got to keep hunting that stuff and find the stuff that fits for us. Confident we will be able to make the team better between now and February.”
Chief among the adds is to the pitching staff. Cherington said, as he has noted often, no team will ever feel like they have enough. It’s become a Cherington staple to say he wants 10 starting pitchers as Spring Training breaks.
“We are actively working on adding more,” Cherington told KDKA’s Dan Zangrilli. “We feel really good about Mitch Keller. We feel really good we added two left-handed starters this offseason. We also feel particularly good about the future of our starting pitching group.”
He also feels like from within the organization they have some guys who have touched the big leagues a bit and a few that haven’t yet. But is encouraged because those key pitchers are at least in AA or AAA. They are moving towards the top of the system.
While he didn’t mention names, it would include first-round pick Paul Skenes, Anthony Solometo, Michael Burrows, Thomas Harrington, Bubba Chandler, Jared Jones and potentially a few others.
But even with some young pitchers climbing up the system, the Bucs GM tells KDKA Radio there is still work to be done and they won’t just rely on youth maturing with the 2024 team.
“The good news is there is lots more out there,” Cherington told KDKA Radio of free agents. “There are a lot of opportunities out there both in trade and free agency, which should give us an opportunity between now and Spring Training to continue to make the team better.”
He cautions that the Pirates will never be a team where free agency is the most important part of the offseason. It can be a piece of the offseason, it can be important, but without using these words, the Pirates could never afford to be in bidding wars with big-market teams. It’s about finding the right trades and finding the right players other teams have discarded or growing the system through the draft and international free agents.
“We are working every day to find those opportunities to make this team better in ’24 in a way that allows us to keep getting better after ’24,” Cherington explained to KDKA Radio. “We are going to work our tails off on it.”
“I am optimistic. The outcome we want is to do more between now and Spring Training. We have to remained disciplined of course, that’s how we are going to build this team to be great and be able to sustain it. We don’t want to do deals that are going to end up coming back and haunting us or handicapping us in the future. There is always a balance.”
Cherington is excited they have a number of their core players who have touched the big leagues. He notes some are further along in their careers than others, with a few he believes who have established themselves as MLB players. What else is encouraging for the Pirates general manager is that be believes those who have reached that stage still have their best days ahead of them.
The Pirates are currently 17th among MLB teams in money spent this offseason at just over $16 million. Cherington tells Zangrilli they are only half-way done and there are players still available they’ve been in discussions with for a long time.
What else is added will likely determine how big of a step the Pirates take in 2024.