PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – All said and done what was expected to be a very busy day during into something much less as the Pirates traded only two established players from their regular roster Thursday before the 6p deadline in David Bednar and Bailey Falter.
“We could have acquired major league bats, absolutely,” Cherington said. “There were opportunities on the table for us, just not at a price we were comfortable with.”
Cherington said they made efforts in not just the last day, but the last week and last month via the trade market.
He said they anticipated it would be hard because as you look at the trades, few proven bats were moved. The Bucs GM said if you are a contender, you’re not very likely to move a proven bat.
He said the ones that did get a bat via trade were ones that were focusing on August and September, not a team like theirs trying to build for 2026.
Vets set to leave
There were three players on expiring contracts. Cherington said they were less motivated to move those players
· Isiah Kiner-Falefa stayed because of already trading Ke’Bryan Hayes. While Jared Triolo will get an opportunity and potentially others at third base, they appreciate how IKF plays
· Tommy Pham-the outfielder who has raised his batting average from .194 on June 19 to .273 now. Cherington called him a remarkable example to the younger guys with how he pulled out of a bad season. He said they were open to trading Pham, but felt like it made sense to hold onto him. Cherington also said there is a chance younger players could still get reps, but Pham will get his at bats.
· Andrew Heaney-he said it made sense to trade one of the starting pitchers to open up a spot, and the first pitcher he mentioned for taking that spot was Johan Oviedo, closing in on a return from Tommy John surgery and a lat injury. He said they were open to trading Heaney, but once they traded Bailey Falter, they decided to keep Heaney. He said Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft could get a look, they are still going over those options.
Reallocation
As for the roughly $40 million savings from the salary cap for next year in moving Hayes, Falter, Bednar and the expiring contracts, Cherington said they have more to learn the last two months of the season to say exactly where that money will go. He acknowledged they need to create more runs, but wouldn’t commit to doing it through free agency. He said what he said before the trade deadline in that they will be more open-minded to trades, he said that about free agency now, but likely it will be trades and internal improvement. The six-year Pirates GM had said previously free agency is not a tool for a market size like Pittsburgh to improve.
Bednar
There was praise for David Bednar for all he did for the organization and Cherington said the Pirates organization has had a long history of trading closers and being able to find the next one. He called the return for Bednar a really strong collection of talent and the best deal available to them by their estimation. Cherington said the headliner of the deal, catcher Rafael Flores, is strong offensively and defensively and ‘gives us all kinds of options’ in 2026 (he can also play first base).
He said he wouldn’t discuss now what that means for current catchers Henry Davis, Joey Bart and Endy Rodriguez.
Keller
Cherington said they were only listening to trades about Mitch Keller and learning what teams were thinking about players and what they might do. He said Keller is really important to them going forward and it wasn’t likely they would have moved him and explained to Keller that they had to listen but they are happy he remained a Pirate.
Overall
Cherington said you always walk away from the trade deadline hoping to do more, but feels like they put them in a stronger position.
"I think we took an important step,” Cherington said. “We're certainly not finished, but we thought about it as we want to take a step on three things.
1. We want to add more young talent in the organization, talent that we can grow with.
2. Create the right opportunities for August and September for players and pitchers that we believe have the best chance to be part of that team in 2026 that we're building toward.
3. If the opportunities were out there that made sense, create some maneuverability, some options for us this offseason where we can reallocate payroll, perhaps, into other parts of the team.
We wanted to try to accomplish parts of all three of those things and we believed we did. We certainly have more work to do once it hits November."
That’s when the MLB trade window opens again which it has been said is a better time to move players and get more in return because every team is a potential trade partner.
This is just a breakdown of the main points, you can listen to the entire interview at the beginning of the story.