GM Ben Cherington discusses Pittsburgh Pirates’ offseason

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington held his season-ending press conference today, broadly discussing several offseason topics with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Jason Mackey and other reporters.  While the Bucs went 62-100 to post their seventh consecutive losing season, Cherington felt some progress was made among the team’s young player, both on the field and in the clubhouse.

This young core is key to the Pirates’ rebuilding strategy, but some veteran help may be added at specific positions.  Cherington noted that first base, the starting rotation, and catcher are all areas of need to some degree, though in case of the catcher spot, the GM said “we feel increasingly good about that position, organizationally, certainly.  At the major league level, really like the job that Jason Delay and Tyler Heineman did.”

This might count out a new deal with Roberto Perez, though Cherington said the Pirates “are keeping the door open” on Perez’s status.  Signed to a one-year, $5M contract last winter as some veteran reinforcement behind the plate, Perez played in only 21 games before undergoing a hamstring surgery that cost him the rest of the season.  This makes it two straight injury-marred seasons for the veteran backstop, and while Perez is a two-time Gold Glover with a strong defensive track record, his checkered recent health situation will certainly lower his free agent price tag, if he lands a guaranteed deal at all.

A lower price, of course, helps the chances of Perez remaining in Pittsburgh, as the payroll is once again a key factor in the Bucs’ offseason decisions.  Cherington again reiterated that “I really believe that we have the resources to win and that once we start winning, we’ll be able to sustain that,” and yet until that corner is turned, there doesn’t seem to be any expectation that the Pirates will make any significant expenditures.

Pittsburgh fans have long been critical of the Pirates’ lack of spending, as ownership didn’t much stretch the budget during the Bucs’ last stretch of winning baseball (three straight postseason appearances from 2013-15).  The promise of increased spending down the road isn’t exactly welcome to a fanbase impatient for success, but Cherington said his front office is concentrating on the present realities of its rebuild process.

“I don’t believe focusing on payroll is the right thing to focus on in a town like Pittsburgh, in a place where a winning team is not going to be built in a way that is in other places,” Cherington said.  “I understand where the question comes from, but the way we wake up every day and do our work, it’s just not the thing that we think about.”

As such, the Pirates won’t be breaking the bank to address their offseason needs, though first base has traditionally been a position where some solid production can be found at a lower price.  The same could be true of the rotation, and the Bucs had success in this area last offseason with Jose Quintana’s bounce-back year after signing a one-year, $2M free agent deal.  In terms of a general wishlist, Cherington is hoping to add more strikeouts to the pitching staff, and more runners on base for the lineup as a whole, not just at the first base spot.

Cherington said in August that Derek Shelton would be returning as Pittsburgh’s manager, and on Friday, Cherington added that the coaching staff would also be retained, apart from “considering someone getting an opportunity somewhere else or something like that.”  If anything, Cherington hinted that the Bucs might add more personnel to what is already a deep coaching staff.