On Saturday, Ben Cherington met with the media to discuss different topics. One big topic was the July 30th trade deadline.
The NL Wild Card standings are insane and yes there are still 99 games left to be played.
Atlanta 35-26 5.5 Game lead
San Diego 33-34 0.5 game lead
Chicago 31-33
Cincinnati 31-33
San Francisco 31-33
St. Louis 30-32
Pittsburgh 30-33 0.5 game back
Arizona 30-34 1.0 game back
Washington 28-35 2.5 games back
New York 27-35 3.0 games back
"Teams are talking and we're one of those teams. We'll stay on the phones and you know we want to keep getting better. If there's an opportunity for that we want to be ready for it," said Cherington.
With the standings so close together and so many teams are in it right now, the question then becomes how long will teams wait to determine if they are going to be buyers or sellers. Cherington says the outcome they want is to separate themselves from the other teams.
"There are a bunch of teams packed together, it's probably not that surprising, a bit of how we thought the league would play out and even in our division how we thought it might play out. Most of the teams have the same mindset. We'll be up for the challenge and keep doing what we need to do to make those things happen. Just keep getting better."
Cherington says it's exciting seeing parts of the team performing well and how you need that to beat the really good teams in the league. The Pirates have won series against top teams like the Orioles, Braves, Cubs and Dodgers.
When asked about the local and national media saying "The Pirates should go for it!" Cherington confirms the time is now.
"We want to keep winning more. Yes forever we want to do that but in 2024 we want to do that. It's not just about the young starters, it's about the entire team. We want to do everything we can to stay in it, get better, keep winning more games. I believe we have the resources including the players who are already here. Our focus is right now. Today, tomorrow, this year. Do everything we can to keep ourselves in the strongest position possible. I'm confident we are going to have the means to do that. We've just got to execute and do it."
The last three years the Pirates have been sellers and moved players to bring in young talent to build for the future. This year they're in position to move young talent to bring in MLB players now.
"I think we always have to be doing both. We should be willing and prepared to give up a young player for a Major League Player if it helps our team and if it's a trade that we think makes sense. At the same time, we got to be just as dogged to build up our young talent base. Whether that's through the draft or international, or how we're doing in player development. We're not satisfied with that. It's both, I think we have to do both all the time."