Pirates GM Sets Goal for Offseason
Putting together a team that can take the next step is the top priority for Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Ben Cherington.
While Pittsburgh is in the beginning stages of the offseason, Cherington is confident the team that takes the field in 2025 will be the best of his tenure.
"I think there's clear evidence progress has been made and clearly not enough," Cherington told reporters. "We are winning more games, we're not winning enough, it has to happen better and faster. As I said, I really do believe we go into 2025 already with the strongest, deepest roster we've had since l've been here, we need to make it better."
Since Cherington and Pirates manager Derek Shelton came to Pittsburgh in 2019, the Pirates have gone 294-414, including a pair of 100-loss seasons and going 76-86 in the last two seasons. Pittsburgh has yet to finish better than fourth place in the National League Central in the last five seasons as well.
Having Paul Skenes and Jared Jones atop the starting rotation for an entire season along with the return of catcher Endy Rodrìguez should help the Pirates in 2025, though that won't entirely solve their problems. Adding to their bullpen and more offense have to be on the ledger if Pittsburgh is going to improve in 2025.
As far as improving the team for next season, Cherington said he'll leave no stone unturned and he's excited about the task at hand in trying to lead the Pirates to their first playoff berth since 2015.
"There are different ways to make it better," Cherington said. "Some of it will be through offseason acquisition, some of it will need to be through player improvement. Over time, certainly, some of it is going to need to come from continuing to get better at the draft and international and internal developments. I'm confident because I'm fully energized by the job [and] by the task. It's hard, it's a hard job and it's not supposed to be easy. But that's why we do it."
