Ben Cherington on returning as Pirates GM in 2026

Ben Cherington on returning as Pirates GM in 2026

for sure is that you keep that for next season. Yes. What are you guys doing this off season? Last season you were in the same exact spot with offensive issues. You mostly just revamped the coaching staff, added a couple of pieces and ended up in the same positions. How do you how are we going to attack this differently this offseason? Well, we’ll get into the exact details of that strategy and you never know exactly what opportunities will be there. It’s clear to me we’ve got to improve the roster. Um and that certainly includes on the position player side. Um we have to do an even better job supporting our players uh player improvement because the some of the offensive improvement has to come internally and we got to continue to improve the way we prepare for games and the strategy around that. And we got to all be totally committed to you know the game on the field that night being the most important thing. you know, there can’t be an ounce of energy going towards anything else, but uh how do we win this game tonight? So, I think it’s all that we have to commit to it. We have to do it. We’ll get into the details of exactly what um acquisition strategy we have this offseason. Um but we will improve the roster and um confident we can do that on the position player side. How important is the continuity for you given that you’re back, that Donny’s back, that you guys? I think it’s a I think it’s a bonus. Um it’s not a reason. uh you know this is a manager’s too important a role for that to be uh driving a decision. It’s a bonus but uh what’s driving the decision were all the things we talked about his u his com the combination of the the credibility the trust he has in the clubhouse in the organization uh his tenacity uh his extreme will to win willingness to do everything everything possible to do that um you know There’s a lot more that he’s there’s a lot that goes into him being the right person for the job. It’s an added bonus that there’s continuity because it just helps us hit the ground running really fast. Ben, what do you think you’ve learned that will maybe be different in roster building for this coming year? Yeah, I think that um first of all, we continue to learn and I I really do think are getting clear on uh the types of traits and hitters that we’re making a bet on. um in Pittsburgh like we need to be making bets on guys who are not proven. We may be able to make some bets on guys that are proven and we’ll pursue that too, but some of the some of the targets have to be guys who are unproven and uh I believe we’re getting more clear all the time on what what the combination of traits are that we should be making the best bet on. Um so in terms of acquisition, that’s what I would say. Um, and then I think the other part of the the roster angle of it anyway is that I really believe we can do a better job building a a total roster that um is just more functional and provides Donnie more opportunities. I think there were some times this season, not intentionally, but some times this season we got into patches where um we just didn’t have enough options to create good matchups uh up and down the lineup. we didn’t have enough depth to. So you looked at the lineup one through nine and felt good about the matchups to start the game and also felt good that if we had to switch out during the game at some point we had those matchups too. There were stretches where we just didn’t have that enough of that. So combination of the quality of the players certainly um we will add to the roster but also the functionality of the roster itself. Uh I think both of those things are things we need to attack and then again it’s some of it has to happen through internal improvement. What do you kind of feel like you can do personally better to, you know, help put this team in a better position for? Uh, well, I think about that all the time. I think, um, some of it is what we just talked about, just continuing to learn from what we have done, from his decisions, the ones that have well, worked well, the ones that haven’t. How do we continue to be more excellent in everything we do? Um, select better players, uh, create better environment, choose the right resources, the right tools, etc., deliver those to players. Some of it’s that um I think certainly in my head it’s just an overwhelming amount of urgency and focus on the major league team. Um and again it gets back to like keeping the g keeping the team on the field and the game that night the most important thing. Um I strongly believe in my ability to do that. Um we got to go do it and execute. Seems like there’s a lot of general fan pressure on some sort of changes to be made and some people are bringing back the bring back the same general manager, some fans are going to be disappointed, but give you the confidence that even with that confidence, you guys can make some changes to bring baseball. Well, first of all, we got to deliver better to our fans. Um, that’s very clear. Uh, it’s in my mind all the time. I want to do that. Um, totally hear the frustration and bottom line, we just got to deliver. That’s our expectation to do that. Um, I don’t believe that, um, I don’t believe that, you know, continuity in certain positions uh reflects a lack of change. We’re our jobs are to change all the time. Our jobs are to find an opportunity tomorrow to change if we need to to get better. So there’s going to be there’s change is constant. It’s happening uh throughout baseball operation, throughout our clubhouse all the time. Um we’re talking all the time even now about you know who are the people that can support our players that can work most effectively with our players. What are the tools? How do we improve the tools that we’re delivering, the information or the tools we’re delivering uh to our staff or our players so that we’re in a better position to improve or make make good decisions? Um how do we continue to improve the culture? You know what how do we build a culture in that room that again the only energy is going towards the game that night and winning the game that night? So change can happen in a lot of different ways and will happen um even if certain individuals are constants. Ben, you mentioned urgency. With that, is there more of a willingness to be more aggressive whether it’s multi-year free agent contracts, willingness to trade top prospects, etc.? Yeah, I think we got to be ready to be aggressive um in acquisition this offseason, whether it’s free agency or trade. Um in our situation, we’ve got to we’ve got to be willing to assume the risk of trades because um free agency is not an open ocean for us. uh we’re going to be able to be targeted there and we will be we’ll try to be we’ll be in put ourselves in a position to do that the best we possibly can. But if we want to give ourselves every chance, it’s got to be the trademark it also. Um and we just got to be we got to be prepared to chase down every single thing that we think has a chance to help this team win more games in 26. Execute on the ones that we can we can get to. Um and just be dogging about it all offseason. And uh Bob Nutting said in his statement when of Donniey’s extension that you know this year wasn’t acceptable and it needs to be better. Has he given you the assurances that you will receive additional resources to improve next year’s? We’ve got the resources to win. We just got to execute. Um my conversations with Bob recently have been every combination of challenging, productive, difficult at times. I leave every one of them more clear on how we’re both seeing this and um what’s important and how we how we’re going to go about executing. Um I believe that and uh we just got to go do it. Ben, what’s the challenge of operating an organization baseball operations wise and under those restraints, you know, whether limited for free agency or what have you? It’s the opportunity we’re given, right? like, you know, we we want to be part of delivering to our fans what that simplest the simplest way to do that. The best way to do that, the quickest way to do that is win more baseball games. Uh so that we’re playing, you know, last week fighting for October, not not trying to kick somebody out. Um so that’s the opportunity. We relish that opportunity. There’s challenges everywhere. You know, that’s that’s what you sign up for. We just got to get it done. How does the strength of the pitching staff you have right now? We’ll be right there. Yeah, I think it gives us an opportunity. It’s a strong foundation and we’re not satisfied. We had a good pitching season um overall effective pitching season. We can be better. Um, and I’m we’re just as focused on that candidly as the offensive side because wins come from everywhere. And you know, we we can’t take for granted that this part of the team is okay and we’ll just focus over here. Um, we’ve got the pitching talent in the organization, I believe, to to have a chance to be really good. There may be opportunities to add to that this offseason. Um, so it’s a good foundation, but we’re not satisfied with it. We got to push it higher. Then there was John something out 10 days for the season and about it’s more likely that the team tries to extend Paul rather than move on from him. He’s probably going to win a Sai Young here in a month or so. I mean is where’s the team stand on maybe his long-term future with the play? Well, it’s obvious that you know on and off the field he is someone that we would want to have for as long as possible. Obvious team would say that. Um he exemplifies just in my experience with him, he he lives the you know he walks the walk in every possible way. And um we need not every player will be do it quite like at at the level he does, but we certainly need um even more of that mindset um and you know just approach toward his craft, approach towards winning um on top of the stuff he does off the field. So, um, he’s clearly someone that, um, is at the center of our thoughts a lot. Um, he wants to win really badly, too. Uh, I expect that at some point. Um, every year you talk about contract, you talk about contract with everybody. So, that’s going to come for us at some point anyway. And, um, of course, he’s someone we’d love to have here for a long time. You mentioned on your radio show yesterday that the players during their accident really kind of stood up for Donnie. How much did that, if at all, influence the decision or was it already made? I think we were pretty far along. Um, but not, you know, not in the end zone as Donnie said. We didn’t really get to clarity until really recently. Um, and it was helpful. It was not surprising. I think what I took from the exit meetings um again more than anything was just the the freedom with which players uh it seemed like they were willing to share and talk and some was really positive and some of it was critical feedback in some areas and that’s the reason for the meeting. So uh I think the the sort of freedom with which they were on the talk was what I was getting in terms of their perception of Donnie more than any specific thing they said about Donnie.

Ben Cherington speaks with reporters after stating that he’s received assurance that he’ll return as Pirates general manager in 2026.

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