The Pirates Must Make Changes, but Should Ben Cherington Be One?

8-22-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

I imagine this piece is being met with a whole lot of comments from those who don’t read beyond the headline. For those of you who dared to click and find out why someone wouldn’t just state it as fact after a series loss to a tragically underperforming defending Champion in Texas, I promise, I’ll make it worth your while.

This is going to be as close as I can come to a live stream of consciousness as I work my way through what it sure seems mostly everyone believes to be a fair question.

So lets go.

First thing I can think of, and it’s immediate for me, I have zero interest in watching a new GM come in here with a new vision and if we’ll just be patient for another couple years here, and a few strategic moves here, and yeah, all that.

And I know it would happen. Here’s why. Any GM brought in here would look at the tradeable, and I mean impact level tradeable assets first and foremost. After all, every GM has to put their stamp on the team. They’ll know the MLB level is thin, lots of young pitching, more coming, light on prospects that can really be sold off.

They could be pretty happy with where they are, then they turn to Bob and say, sure man, this thing is about 30-35 million in payroll away here. I need 3-4 free agents if I can’t find a reasonable deal and with this pitching, you’re in.

Do I need to tell you what Bob might say here?

So what is the new GM to do? He can look at his roster, see something really valuable he doesn’t want to part with and see if it helps him get what’s missing, but even that probably comes with salary. Say, OK, maybe I was overestimating. Let’s get this payroll up around 115 next year.

At best, this is met with a fingers crossed behind the back head nod right?

I bet you could find another GM to come in and say they see enough parts laying around to finish the house without the blueprints or overage help.

I’m just not sure that changes the answer here. I’m not sure it really helps.

Even then, you’re going to get someone who is going to want to do something, not small, to “reset” or “bridge” or “adjust”.

Maybe that’s welcome. Maybe Ben Cherington did a great job building up the pitching and that’s all he’s got.

Thing is, last Spring, I absolutely thought the team and system were on pretty shaky ground. I saw Paul Skenes sure, I saw Jared Jones, Mitch Keller, but man, after that, it was pretty hard to see, at least close to impacting the team.

All that being said, the team’s overall analytical approach, application, staffing, tea leaf readers, whatever, it was the first thing this GM made changes to and expanded upon arrival, but something isn’t working. It’s either not providing his coach with enough flexibility to alter plans to account for things like hot streaks, lefty-righty matchups, demoting a closer, whatever. I’m not here to guess who’s responsible for what, I’m here to say it ain’t working.

I didn’t expect Derek Shelton to win many more games than he did from 2020-2022. Last year I thought we could really start to evaluate and this year I certainly thought they had enough for a .500 record.

I always thought he’d get to the tipping point with this team and ultimately succumb to the stink he amassed during the purposeful losing. A starter coach if you will. This game has been played for years and years with rebuilding clubs all over the country.

A new GM guarantees changes to the entire coaching staff almost every time, unless they’re coming in to a legacy type guy and Shelton isn’t that.

Derek has been a good soldier. He’s told the story just about how he was asked to and he’s done so for the most part with a smile, that’s what a good starter coach does, but at some point every GM must shed his comfortable yes man and hire someone who will push back on him a bit. It’s uncomfortable, but you can’t have a guy at field level so used to nodding along with the plan that he’s forgotten how to detect and call out bullshit.

To me, this is one of those things that he may not even see, but someone he works for needs to see it for him. Self preservation is sometimes an instinct that needs shocked into existence.

I doubt Bob Nutting is at the point of panic really. After all, he’s still got a team that just about anyone would tell him if consulted was on the rise and I’m fairly certain he knows by now the financial restraints he puts on his GM requires more patience than an owner who just dropped 190 to finish 4th.

We’ve seen him have his fill before, and he spent money to change directions, I just find it incredibly hard to believe he’s prepared to do it again so soon.

Bottom line, I neither think Ben Cherington will be removed, nor do I think it’s something I’m ready for. I would like to see some pressure applied to make changes to his coaching, development and scouting. Perhaps it’s time for someone who’s overseen a development system professionally before coming to the Pirates.

To me, Ben Cherington has done some good things and he’s gotten the team into a place that I feel will get into the dance next year.

But not with this coaching staff.

I’d cut this deep and to the bone. I’d cleave it off to avoid gangrenous tissue being left behind. Even the ones I think have done well like Oscar Marin, keep him around as pitching coordinator outside of the dugout, let him focus on the big picture and upgrade this whole unit with veteran coaches who have done this before and tasted at least a little success.

No former Pirates who used to hit real good. No former catchers who used to play here and we watched suck in Chicago already. None of that crap. Real, MLB experienced baseball coaches, from successful organizations. Spend here and make the most of the money you do spend on the field.

Stick with the status quo and I fear the team still improves, but not as much as it could. It could be the difference in 3 or 4 real good shots at it, or in it 3 times but we really only had a shot that one year.

I have no doubt this conversation is a waste of time as it comes to moving on from the GM, I just don’t think Nutting will see it as time to but I sure would love if he’d bring in some more voices that might see things a bit differently.

Sometimes building a system in your vision can turn you into a bit of a degenerate gambler where you keep doubling down. Every change you make requires time. Let’s say he hires a new International Scouting Director, well, in baseball, the first year you’re probably at the mercy of what he already knew and who you already had around and in place. First year is a crapshoot. Can’t blame the new guy or the old guy yet right? Next year, New guy, who’s a little less new now, brings in some of his own new guys and they start building their networks and creating their lists and bringing their “innovative” ideas.

Another draft has passed and everyone signed who’s worth worrying about is like 16 years old, kinda hard to tell what’s going on down there yet but some of those kids sure are tall for their age! Yay.

See where I’m going? Now apply that to every aspect of the game. All up and down the system.

On a team like this, nobody is going to ask their GM to come in and do all this faster than it takes to realistically see a handful of their draft picks. It’s never as simple as this dumb guy couldn’t win with 200 million, let’s replace him with the next guy who can spend that money and win.

Here, a GM change has just about always meant starting over, and I’m just not of the belief that’s where we are.

I think Mr. Ed could have this team in the playoffs next year as coach, but I’d rather get one who won’t pee all over himself when they get there.