It’s been another tough season for the Pirates, and things went poorly enough early in the year that manager Derek Shelton was fired just six weeks into the regular season. While the club showed at least some signs of life in the aftermath of Shelton’s firing, with a 52-51 record under interim manager Don Kelly through September 4, they’ve gone on to lose 12 of their last 14 games and now look sure to end the season on a sour note. With a 66-89 record entering play today, Pittsburgh is more than 20 games underwater for the year and has already locked up a worse record than the club posted in back-to-back 86-loss seasons during the 2023 and ’24 campaigns.
A step backwards in Paul Skenes’s first full season in the major leagues could not possibly have been something Pittsburgh was expecting, and none of the team’s woes can be attributed to their ace given his 2.02 ERA and status as the heavy favorite for the NL Cy Young award. The problem lies elsewhere in the organization, and yesterday GM Ben Cherington was asked by reporters about his job status and plans for the future. Cherington (as relayed by Kevin Gorman of TribLive) told reporters that he “hasn’t heard anything to the contrary” from ownership when asked if he expects to return for 2026.
“I don’t know if any of us in this room ever have full assurance of anything, but I want to help the Pirates win more games,” Cherington told reporters. “That’s it. I don’t do the job because of the job. I do the job because I want to be a part of making this thing work. Winning more games and being able to leave PNC Park at night feeling better and everybody feeling better. That’s why I do it. I still want to do it. I badly want to do it.”
Cherington went on to discuss the status of Kelly headed into the offseason, and made clear that he’s holding off on evaluating the interim manager’s performance until the season comes to a close. He went on to say that he expected Kelly would do “a really good job” in the role from the moment he took over back in May, and that his performance “is one that’s not surprising” to him. While Cherington’s review of Kelly’s work was largely positive, he also noted that not having a manager locked in for 2026 at this point creates “an opportunity to really have a culture that feels different” next season. If Pittsburgh brass think a significant change in culture is necessary to get the team back on track, it could be argued that Kelly isn’t the right person to change that culture after spending six seasons in the organization between his time as bench coach and interim manager.
Despite uncertainty in the dugout and the team’s poor performance this year, Cherington added that he expects the team to contend next season. At the same time, he acknowledged that “you can’t just hope it’s going to happen” and that “some really important work” needs to be done to improve the club around Skenes. The most obvious place improvement will be needed is on offense, as Spencer Horwitz and his 107 wRC+ represent the only above-average offensive contribution the club got from any of its hitters this year. Perhaps the team can expect better performances from Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds next year given their track records, but the rest of the lineup has posted uninspiring numbers with little reason for optimism going forward.
The microscopic budget handed down by ownership is a perennial challenge in Pittsburgh, but Cherington and the Pirates’ front office do have an exciting farm system and a deep pitching staff from which they could try to swing trades that would upgrade the offense. Top prospect Konnor Griffin isn’t going anywhere, of course, but with Skenes, Jared Jones, Mitch Keller, Johan Oviedo, Mike Burrows, Bubba Chandler, Hunter Barco, Thomas Harrington, Braxton Ashcraft, and Carmen Mlodzinski all likely to be in the mix for starts next year there should be plenty of room to move an arm or three for help on offense. Indeed, that’s how they were able to acquire Horwitz, as they traded Luis Ortiz to the Guardians to acquire their first baseman last offseason shortly after he joined Cleveland in the Andres Gimenez trade. If they can follow a similar road map more aggressively this winter, they should be able to leverage their bevy of young pitching talent in order to augment the offense without breaking the bank.
What he should have said…
“As long as the Pittsburgh Pirates have an owner who doesn’t care about winning, I’m just here to provide lip service and the fans will be disappointed year in and year out.”
Can’t criticize ownership on the spot.
If he criticized ownership then he’d never be a president of baseball ops again
Bro is full of crap
If the Pirates don’t win anything for the rest of this decade with Skenes, Chandler, and Griffin then the franchise will have to be disbanded entirely.
Enough of the BS, it’s time to build a winner. The Bucs excellent pitching requires the support of excellent offense.
For the life of me I can’t understand why they dont trade Skenes. I know parting with generational talent is hard to swallow but there is less than a 0% chance that Skenes signs with Pittsburgh long term. Pittsburgh could literally rob a teams farm system if they traded him. It’s not like they are going to be super competitive so what’s the point in holding on to a winning lottery ticket and not cashing it in?
theyll be able to get as much for two years of him as they would for five, though. no point in selling him too early. look at the soto package (1.5 yrs club control)
Skenes is about the Pirates’ only draw. Gives the fans some hope of a W when they show up to the ballpark. So they trade Skenes and hopefully have two more Skenes in perhaps four or five years. That’s no guarantee and doesn’t move the needle anyway. Don’t slay the golden goose when there are no future plans for the org beside making profits.
Barring an injury of course. But, in this case, I believe they can get a truckload more for 5 instead of 2. There is no point to holding onto him imo
And get him out of your division, right?
“Look at the Soto package”
Okay, and where are the Washington Nationals right now? They have a worse record than the Pirates and their farm system is ranked bottom 10 in mid-season rankins by both MLB.com and Baseball America.
No, Soto alone would not make the Nationals that much better, but it’s very rare you see teams make a Soto-esque trade and come out winners of that deal. But it’s clear that doing that alone isn’t going to make you a winner.
I don’t think anybody there should be making long term plans including Skenes. I think Paul and Livvy should be thinking more West Coast.
Cherrington needs to be tared and feathered, tied to a lampost, and frog-marched out of town. He has done a deplorable job regardless of how little resources he is allowed to fiddle with. The resources he is allocated are frivolously and inefficiently squandered, it appears to me. Time for a new brain trust in the front office to figure something else out.
I agree. I’m not saying Bob Nutting isn’t a problem, but Jack Suwinski’s +2.0 fWAR in nearly 400 games is the most valuable position player prospect Cherington acquired and developed himself, and he’s been outright horrible in 2024 and 2025. Spencer Horwitz is looking like about the best position player to come out of Cherington’s time with the Pirates, and he didn’t even develop him. It was with the Jays he was drafted and developed by, and had a strong 2024 rookie season with.
The writer said skenes took a step backwards this year. The writer is full of crap. Skenes didn’t take a step back. 2.02 era. In top 5 in ks. If anyone took a step back it was the pirates. Skenes should have 16 wins if he had any hitting support.
Cherrington has no business having a job. Neither should Kelly. Both should be fired after the last out of the the lady game of the year.
And this writer needs to rework his words or go back to flipping 🍔s
You misread this. It may have been somewhat of a dangling participle but they were referencing the team taking a step backwards
“A step backwards in Paul Skenes’s first full season in the major leagues could not possibly have been something Pittsburgh was expecting, and none of the team’s woes can be attributed to their ace given his 2.02 ERA and status as the heavy favorite for the NL Cy Young award.”
Yes I did read it fast. Reread it and I give my correction to the writer of the post
The writer should have been more careful with that first sentence
As much as nutting crushes this teams chances. They don’t needa ton more in the budget to compete. They just need to turn some of the pitching into hitting. Maybe they take a chance on someone like Tristan casas and he stays healthy. I still think those two teams line up well, but casas certainly lost some value.
Yep, it’s definitely a “culture” problem. Or maybe the infield grass needs to be a little longer or a little shorter. Or maybe the souvenir cups they sell in the concession stands need a new design. No matter what, you know Cherrington’s on top of it.
The Rays are contending year after year with a low payroll… even the A’s have had winning seasons with minimal payrolls. There is no excuse for the decades of ineptitude in Pittsburgh!
It’s all about player development. Pirates cannot develop players. Nor can they seem to be able to help a player who gets exposed in the majors. If a player can’t figure it out himself he’s cooked
They’ve developed pitching, but hitting is a different story. The Pirates have yet to draft or trade for a prospect since Cherington took over, and put up a 100 wRC+.
You’re certainly right, the problem may be far more complex that just striking a trade or two for some reliable bats. For example, Cruz may be traded and then he’d go and have a +100 OPS season somewhere else.
Ben Cherington’s only future plans should be checking LinkedIn for new job opportunities.
I know the team is never going to tell him he’s out of a job at the end of the year, but he has to go. We’re looking at a team with the 6th best ERA+, the 3rd best FIP, 5th best WHIP, and lead the league in shutouts. They’re also top ten in defensive runs saved, outs above average, and fielding runs. But they are far and away last in runs per game, wRC+, wOBA, OPS, and only trail the Rockies in wRC+.
Since taking over as GM in 2020, the most valuable position player he drafted or acquired via trade as a prospect, and developed himself is Jack Suwinski with 2.0 fWAR. All of that comes in his first two seasons though, because he’s been below replacement level the last two years.
He’s had about five full MLB and MILB seasons to find and develop a hitter on his own, and Jack Suwinski is the best he can do? C’mon man.
“I don’t know if any of us in this room ever have full assurance of anything, but I want to help the Pirates win more games,” Cherington told reporters.
If Cherington wants to help the Pirates win more games he should resign.
Kelly should no be brought back. His last 20 games have been atrocious
Yeah but his first 105 were pretty good considering what he had to work with.
My offseason to improve the offense would look like this:
-Extend Konnor Griffin off the bat. That gets you a real shortstop in the Major Leagues on Opening Day and pushes Jared Triolo into a utility role.
-Sign Kazuma Okamoto for third base. Yeah, they’re probably not going to get much defense from him, but he’s crushed the ball in a league going through their own deadball era. If the defense is that bad, then use Triolo as a late-game replacement.
-Re-sign Tommy Pham. He likes playing here and he’s been solid since he got his new contacts. Put him in a platoon with Billy Cook.
-Trade for Adley Rutschman if the O’s make him avaiable. He still has a solid .338 xwOBA and is a good defender. The Pirates have plenty of pitching. Make it happen.