I have been hammering this point home for the past few months, but nothing has changed—it is unacceptable for Ben Cherington to still be general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. In his sixth year in that role, the Pirates are currently 44-62, 18.5 games out of the lead in the NL Central division and 13 games behind the San Diego Padres for the final playoff spot. 

It is not like Cherington has not had ample time to put his stamp on the current roster. Six years is more than enough time to turn a franchise around given the number of trades and draft picks made during a Major League Baseball season. Bear in mind that the organization has yet to finish better than 76-86 since he took the helm in the fall of 2019. 

Almost as insulting as the team’s performance in the past six years is Cherington’s inability to be honest with fans, painting this extraordinarily deceptive, insanely optimistic portrait of a franchise that has not won a playoff series since newly-minted baseball hall-of-famer Dave Parker patrolled right field in the 1979 World Series. 

He has constantly banged the drum for internal improvement versus acquiring impact players. This so-called “internal improvement” has resulted in a lineup that is dead last in runs per game (3.38) and total bases per game (11.25), third-to-last in hits per game (7.60), and last in OPS (.641). They also own a -55 run differential despite ranking sixth-best in opposing runs per game, as the Pirates’ pitching has done as much as possible to keep the team in games throughout the season. 

Among Pirates players with more than 100 at-bats on the season, just two (O’Neil Cruz and Andrew McCutchen) have OPS values above .700. Their highest-paid bat, Bryan Reynolds, is slashing a pathetic .232/.290/.375, and has contributed -0.7 wins above replacement. 

So much for “internal improvement”. When asked about the trade deadline, Ben Cherington said…whatever this is:

Credit to Noah Hiles, Pirates beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

In the interest of full disclosure, I have read that quote approximately fifty times, and have yet to determine what exactly Cherington is trying to say. If I try to decode the word salad, what I glean is this: the Pirates may or may not take risks if and/or when they make trades this year. 

How can you let this man have the keys to the team’s future for the trade deadline, especially with assets like Mitch Keller (1.9 bWAR this season, tied for the MLB lead for quality starts) and David Bednar (23 straight appearances without allowing an earned run) in high demand? How can you trust him to get commensurate value for two of the more desirable trade pieces in all of baseball?

Well, you really can’t. I can count on one hand the good trades that Cherington has made in his tenure at 115 Federal Street—and some of those credits are generous. I am not looking forward to him getting pennies on the dollar for prized assets and subsequently spinning webs of word salad about how they were the right moves.