The Pittsburgh Pirates are reportedly set to make Ben Cherington their new general manager. He is the right person to end the rebuild.
It took long enough, but the Pittsburgh Pirates finally decided to move on from former general manager Neal Huntington. While Huntington had his moments of success, his inability to create a sustainably contending franchise proved to be his downfall. As the Pirates sought a new general manager, they needed someone capable of not only building a deep farm system, but could also capitalize on trading those players that would not be a part of the long term.
On Friday, the Pirates found exactly what they needed. According to reports, former Red Sox general manager, and current Blue Jays senior vice president of baseball operations Ben Cherington will take over as Pittsburgh’s newest general manager.
Cherington is best remembered for two moments during his time with the Red Sox. First, he managed to trade the bloated contracts of Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, and Josh Beckett, freeing up $258 million in long term cash in 2012. He parlayed that money into several key free agent signings, as the Red Sox won the World Series the following year.
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However, that was not all Cherington did in Boston. He also managed to put together a farm system that was amongst the best in the game, landing prospects such as Michael Kopech, Andrew Benintendi, and Yoan Moncada. He provided a foundation for future success, until his successor, Dave Dombrowski, dismantled the minors in pursuit of the Red Sox 2018 title.
Cherington was also a part of building an impressive farm system in Toronto. While they have seen possible future second generation stars in Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Cavan Biggio, and Bo Bichette reach the majors, there is still a good amount of depth in the minors.
Obviously, building a successful minor league system is more than the work of one person. However, Cherington has established a track record of being able to put together a stellar farm system. For any team looking to put together a team geared towards sustainable success, an impressive collection of prospects is of the utmost importance.
There will be numerous difficult decisions ahead for Cherington. He will need to determine whether or not to keep Starling Marte and Chris Archer, and to find the right free agents to flip at the deadline for more prospects. It may take some time, but Cherington is in a position to once again build a strong farm system, and subsequently, a contending team.
The Pittsburgh Pirates may not be done rebuilding just yet. As such, they have brought in the right person as their new general manager in Ben Cherington.