Since the exit of longtime GM Neal Huntington on Oct 28, the Pirates have been connected to a number of respected front office figures in their search for a new head of baseball operations. Two names, Blue Jays VP of baseball operations/former Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington and Brewers assistant GM Matt Arnold, have been identified as two of three finalists for the position in a report from Joel Sherman of the New York Post (link).
Pirates assistant GM and current acting general manager Kevan Graves was named as a candidate in a separate report from Thursday, but it is unclear if he represents the third finalist, as Sherman only names Cherington and Arnold in his report. Blue Jays senior VP of player personnel Tony LaCava and former Red Sox and Orioles GM Dan Duquette have previously been mentioned as potential hires, but it appears that Pittsburgh has begun to narrow its scope.
Arnold had been reported as a speculative fit, but this is the first time he has been definitively placed in the running. A former director of player personnel with the Rays, Arnold has been working alongside Brewers GM David Stearns in his current role since October of 2015. Both he, 40, and Cherington, 45, would represent relatively youthful-yet-experienced additions to the Pittsburgh front office, in keeping with industry-wide trends.
As noted in our Offseason Outlook piece on Pittsburgh’s club, one of these finalists will face a challenging winter when they ultimately assume control of operations. After a 69-93 season that saw the club wrought with internal tension, it remains to be seen if the new Pirates exec will opt toward a full-scale rebuild via trades involving players like Starling Marte and Chris Archer, or if a more moderate re-tooling will be attempted in search of a postseason return.
Please just go with Arnold.
Agreed bro. If they hire Cherington I quit again, cuz I’ve already quit but am semi optimistic.
U quit but still here. What makes u a better choice than Ben?
Cuz I’m not Chinese and I’m not dumb so I don’t buy propaganda.
If they want to put a competent baseball organization together, I’ll watch. Otherwise, there’s more entertaining sports to follow.
Haven’t gone to a game at PNC in over 2 years. And used to be a regular during the old PMB message board days.
Tear it down and start fresh, just like they did with front office and coaching staff. Pirates fans are already used to losing so what is a few more years.
That’s the old spirit Rusty!
I live just North of the Burgh for the last 18 years. I am a Cardinals fan as I am originally from that area. it is painful to watch these guys try and play ball. I was excited for them when they had those 3 good years of catching lighting in a bottle. Something needed to change since like so many others have said you cant fire an owner.
So you and I are opposites. I’m from the St. Louis fanbase area but am a Pirates fan.
Have they even interviewed anyone?
Yer mama
Please go away and grow up…..
I think Matt Arnold would be a good choice. And If he had anything to do with drafting Keston Hiura as the Brewers first round draft choice (9th pick) in 2017, all the more reason. Hiura is a stud. He’s already in the majors and showing signs of future stardom. That is the kind of drafting the Pirates desperately need.
I figured they’d hire Jack Zurendzik, so these all seem like decent options.
Keep Jack on the radio and hire one of these guys.
Arnold could be interesting. He has been around to oversee some solid drafts plus his experience with the Rays.
With some good drafting and someone to rebuild the pitching staff, the Pirates could bounce back in 2-3 years
Didn’t know the pirates still had a team. Thought they moved to Mexico
And I thought MLBTR kicked out people like you
Ouch!
Jon Hart or Dan O’Dowd.
Move to Las Vegas
Cherington would do very well at building a team from the ground up without “win now” pressure from ownership. His big mistakes with the Red Sox were made out of desperation.
Forced upon him by
the owners…..
i dont live anywhere near Pittsburgh, but it must be tough living in a market where absolutely nobody outside of the stadium cares about your team, think about it, when you ask a baseball fan to name a team they are gonna say the Yankees red sox cubs cardinals right away then maybe after 15 more teams they will say ‘; the pirates’ they are so far gone from being substantial, they are actually in trouble cause they knowingly dont spend revenue money, they are intentionally not trying to get better, its not even funny, i hope they loose thousands in ticket sales and attendance
They already are…..
That’s such an ignorant comment. You literally start by saying you’re nowhere near Pittsburgh, but according to you, you know everything about the city and fan base. I, like a lot of Pittsburghers am a die hard. Suffered through the 20 years of losing, and relished in the 3 years of playoffs. Yeah, ownership….not great. But your point? I can name 15 nba teams before I name the rockets….4th biggest metro area in the US. I can name 15 nhl teams before I name the islanders. Biggest metro area in the US. It must be hard being that ignorant I suppose
@jturk
I do not think it is hard when someone’s ignorance just seems to come natural to them 🙂
Amanda try going to Pittsburgh or anywhere in PA and ask that same question … and I bet suddenly the Pirates and the Phillies will be some of the first teams named.
But it never occurred to you? No, rather you asked a few of your not too bright friends who live nowhere near Pittsburgh but they named the Yankees and Red Sox and big market cities and you think that proves anything. Very funny.
Hire the ghost of Syd Thrift
Or Sid Bream
I’d take Cyd Charisse at this point. Better legs than Bream. More attractive ghost than Thrift
That looks like a hat worn by a really cool old season ticket holder.
They had some awesome painters hats back in the late
1970’s…..
Fire the owner!
Can we stop with these idiotic comments? Yes, we all hate Bob Nutting, BUT YOU CANNOT FIRE THE OWNER. Can we be a little more intelligent please?
Jorge 78 …. Ok. But how do you fire the owner?
I live in Pirate territory but am a lifelong Red Sox fan. I wouldn’t mind seeing Ben Cherrington in Pittsburgh.
Let’s face it–there is no magic bullet to turn the Bucs into a juggernaut. Let’s just get that out of the way. Then, there is the fact that whoever takes this job will have as few, or fewer, resources than any other team in baseball. Neal Huntington’s basic theory–build a consistently talented club through drafting, development, and identifying untapped talent and potential–was sound; he was just not the right person to make that happen.
What does that leave us? We need someone who CAN consistently identify underappreciated talent; someone who IS able to draft and develop effectively and assemble a good team of people to make that happen; someone who is able to recognize WHEN to trade from the farm to help the major league club (unlike Huntington) and WHEN to spend money in free agency.
Really, I don’t care if that person is 40, 60, 100, or 20. I don’t care if they have experience or not. I don’t care if that person cares more about xwOBA and spin rates or RBI totals and stolen bases. That person simply needs to understand talent and timing more effectively and more consistently that Neal Huntington.
Huntington’s vision was awesome. His execution wasn’t.
Hey Pirates call me. I will do it. Dont think I can do much worse than the prior regime. I can sign low level talent for low price Bob. HMU.
When Neal Huntington first came aboard, he gutted the Pirates’ offices. The result is they improved the team by having 1-3 good drafts, by acquiring the right reclamation project and by trading away fading veterans that, in truth, the Pirates didn’t get much value for in return. Recently, the Pirates’ draft choices are emerging not with the Pirates but with other teams. Finally, the Pirates made two extremely poor, almost mysterious, trades. What happened? Did the Pirates try to replace the office personnel and scouts with even more “advanced” statistical software? Something happened.
They are going to hire the ghost of Chuck Tanner
Cherington would be a nice hire by the Bucs. His craving to build from the ground up with his experience fit what the Bucs need to do.