MLB winter meetings: Pirates GM Ben Cherington talks trade, free agent options and team flexibility

MLB winter meetings: Pirates GM Ben Cherington talks trade, free agent options and team flexibility

what goes into maybe expanding the search to get better bats this off season. Just, you know, looking to season opportunity. We believe we um have the foundation. We got to add to it. We believe we can win in 2026 if we do the necessary work to do that. Part of that’s going to be roster building. Part of that’s going to be building the culture of the team and exe just executing well. Um so we’re pursuing a whole host of free agent and trade options uh you know as part of that strategy. Uh a lot of different shapes of free agents and trades and some stuff gets out and sometimes doesn’t and um you know we just got to stay on it and um be in a position to land land the ones that we can land. Are you confident that there could be execution and you know obviously you make the efforts to you know try and you know acquire these players? Do you feel confident there’s going to be some execution in terms of you know getting guys that will help the lineup in 2026? Yeah, I am. I very confident we’re going to be able to execute u you know between now and spring training. I I don’t know that when it’ll happen. You know I don’t I don’t think there’s any I don’t have a sense of it’s going to happen in the next three days or next week or next month. confident that we’re going to be able to land some stuff that um makes us feel better about the the team and specifically the position player group and the depth of the lineup going into spring training. Believe that the best way to do that is to be engaged on as many fronts as possible. Um you know, you chase down 100 things and three, four, five land and that’s just the way it works. So that’s still the stage we’re at. It’s not quite as simple as this, but are there specific traits you’re hoping to add to the lineup? Are you looking for more power, more contact, less strike out, more like willingness for more strike? If it means more power, what are you sort of interested in at this stage? I mean, in in in a in a sort of perverse good way, like our bar is such that, you know, we can improve in any number. You know, we could, you know, more on base, more power, more contact, you name it. Uh, we need all of it. And um I think we need some combination of both just better depth, you know, one through 18 position players, you know, kind of like we have on the pitching side so that there’s that like stiffer competition amongst the group. Um but also more certainty. Um you know, I think we’re we want both and we’re pursuing both. Um so sure, it would be great if that includes power. Um, it would be great if that’s a little more left-handed than right-handed. We just need better hitter just is more production period. So, I don’t think we’re um in a position to be, you know, too sort of narrowly specific about it. Uh, we just we need to raise the bar and we’ll do it in any way we can and um our aim is to is for it to be some combination of some certainty that we bring in and also more depth. Ben, curious on the timeline of this. Even when you talked to us at the end of the season, like it it didn’t sound as, you know, forceful as urgent. Maybe it was just the idea that you guys haven’t gotten into offseason planning, but like what really spurred the Pirates in this mode versus where you guys were at prior? Good quing question. I mean, I I don’t I don’t feel like I personally feel any different than I did at the end of the season as far as the way we’re looking at the team and the opportunity that we see in front of us. Um, of course you have to go through the work and have those conversations internally to get a little bit further along into the strategy of okay, okay, this is more specifically what we’re going to pursue that we think fits that. Um, this is what we, you know, if we could execute on this that we think this has the biggest impact. Those kinds of more specific things take some more time. So maybe that’s where it’s coming from that we’re just deeper into that now and it’s it’s, you know, kind of into the execution phase now. Maybe that’s What feels different? I I don’t personally feel um in terms of the way we looked at the team at the end of the season and what we hope to do that anything’s changed. Um but we’re a little bit we’re just in that more targeted phase now. And um that’s all I can all I can think of. A lot of the moves you made throughout this season were to help create some flexibility this offseason among another among a number of other things. you feel like you were able to accomplish that? And have you has this off season been I don’t know if easier is the right word, but have do you feel like there’s been more options because of what you did during the season? I think the combination of the um flexibility, payroll flexibility we have and the and the talent we have both um on the 40 man but also in the farm system gives us all sorts of options. You know, it’s it’s uh I don’t we’re not short on things we could do. what we haven’t we obviously made the one trade with Boston. You know what we’re still pushing toward is the thing that we want to do at the price that we think makes sense. um all kinds of things we could have done already because we had offers to do that we’ve said no to but um yeah I think there’s a number of options that you know that are out there for us and again just need to stay on it stay on all of them to the point where um it becomes clear okay here’s a price that we believe makes sense let’s let’s be ready to say yes and go go execute on it what did you guys like about Justin Stinson Garcia young fully controllable outfielder um generally a position of need uh short and long term. Um he’s someone who we believe has the skills to contribute in a lot of different areas of the game. You know, he’s got defensive value, he can run the bases, he’s got power. Uh we’ve seen him really improve uh quickly during his time in the minor leagues with the Red Sox. Um he has a lot of attributes already that look like a major league player. there’s some areas for him to that where where there’s still some growth ahead of him for we’ll work with him on that. All the work we did on the background u all the due diligence we did was really really positive on the kid and the worker and who he is. So, um, yeah, just a combination of all those things. It was not a, um, we do think that he has a chance to impact 2026. Um, and just as much this was, you know, a baseball trade that we just believed in. Um, we think it fits in the strategy, but it’s not it’s really not the end of the strategy. We’re going to keep we’re going to keep going. So, you know, kind of a baseball trade inside the broader offseason strategy. How difficult is it to part ways with a guy like Johan? Yeah, I mean you have to give to get and um you know uh went into the off season probably thinking you’re probably going to trade a pitcher as somewhere uh along the line. Didn’t know you don’t know when and what the situation’s going to be. Um we have explored all kinds of things. Uh that one we felt made sense. Um, credit to Johan for coming back from the surgery and working hard to get back to the point where we had that level of interest in him. Obviously, credit, you know, a lot of credit to staff that work with him. Um, he did he did good things for the Pirates. I expect he’ll do good things for the Red Sox, but um ultimately thought it made sense for us given the the outfield talent we’re getting back. [Music] Thank you for checking out this content from Postgazette Sports. If you watch this video on YouTube, please like the video and subscribe to our channel. For all of the sports coverage the Post Gazette has to offer, visit post-gazette.com. [Music]

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington met with media members at the MLB winter meetings on Monday in Orlando, Fla., to talk about his team’s offseason plans. Cherington discusses the team’s strategy heading into a crucial period of free agent dealings and potential trade negotiations; how his moves during last season set him up to have a plethora of options over the offseason; and his thoughts on the trade that brought Jhostynxon Garcia
to Pittsburgh in exchange for Johan Oviedo.

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