Pirates General Manager Ben Cherington is reacting to the moves he made at the trade deadline.
Cherington continues to believe that the team isn’t far way from being successful.
Speaking during his weekly radio show, Cherington emphasized that trades they make, like the one that sent Ke’Bryan Hayes to Cincinnati are never done to save money.
“We would never make a trade to save money, that’s never part of the calculus,” said Cherington. “But, using that payroll space that’s opened up, through that trade, in addition to the talent we get back, using that payroll space in other things can really help the team, especially if we feel like we have alternatives in-house that can replace some of (Hayes’) contributions.”
Cherington says the focus now move on to making next year’s team better.
“We should be focused on 2026 and building the best possible team we can,” said Cherington.
“With that, we went into the deadline, really, with three goals,” added Cherington.
1. Adding young talent
2. Create flexibility to spend in the offseason
3. Getting more playing time for players with the remaining time in the season
Cherington also admitted there were other moves they wanted to make, but the didn’t work out because of the cost.
“The Price was not something we were comfortable with,” said Cherington, adding the organization will pick back up with acquiring new players in the offseason.
Listen above to hear Cherington explain why they kept vets like Tommy Pham and Isiah Kiner-Falefa past the deadline and so much more.