Steve Sanders Joins Pirates’ Front Office

The Blue Jays have now lost two high-ranking members of their front office to the Pirates in the past couple weeks. Senior vice president of baseball operations Ben Cherington left to become Pittsburgh’s general manager Nov. 18, and now amateur scouting director Steve Sanders is on his way to the Steel City, Jeff Passan of ESPN tweets. He’ll become an assistant general manager with the Pirates, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

It’s unclear where Sanders will fall in the pecking order for the Bucs, who already have Kevan Graves as an assistant GM behind Cherington. Regardless, as the PPG notes, the Pirates just landed someone who’s considered “a rising star in the industry.” Just 31 years old, Sanders has ties to Cherington dating back to their time together in Boston. Sanders spent the previous three years in Toronto, where he helped stock up a farm system that Baseball America ranked 24th when he arrived but now rates as No. 6 in the game.