Recap: How the front office rating works
This is one in a series of assessments of the performances of front offices for the 2024 season. Each front office is given a score based on the total Wins Above Average of the players they either traded for, signed via free agency or extension, or promoted from their farm system, since the conclusion of the 2023 post-season.
A front office’s score also includes the total Wins Above Average of players traded away or lost to free agency since the end of the 2023 post-season. The front offices are being presented in order of their total value from No. 30 (worst) all the way to No. 1 (best).
These ratings do not necessarily reflect the final standings. Front offices are measured based only on the talent they acquired or lost during the past 12 months. Players on multi-year contracts, or already under team control, don’t count toward this rating.
23. Pittsburgh Pirates, Ben Cherington, executive vice president and general manager, -2.2
Debuting in May less than a year after being drafted first overall out of LSU, Paul Skenes went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 23 starts. That by itself works out to a +4.8 WAA on the plus side of the Cherington ledger, the sixth most impactful front office move in all of MLB in 2024 and No. 1 among NL Central teams.
You could sum up the Pirate front office’s 2024 season in those two words — Paul Skenes — and you wouldn’t be far off. In fact, the Pirates probably wish you would.
The rest of the Cherington group’s efforts don’t look nearly as sanguine. Since the conclusion of the 2023 postseason, the Pittsburgh front office made moves impacting 43 major league personnel, but only 15 of those moves generated positive value. A full 26 worked against the Pirates, while two were neutral.
Five most impactful Ben Cherington moves
Transaction | Net Impact (Wins Above Average) |
|---|---|
Promoted rookie pitcher Paul Skenes | +4.8 |
Traded for outfielder Bryan De La Cruz | -1.8 |
Signed free agent first baseman Rowdy Tellez | -1.7 |
Sold pitcher Roddery Munoz to Miami | +1.6 |
Traded for outfielder Edward Olivares | -1.3 |
The most optimistic thing to say about the Pirates is that they have a lot of kids who might someday join Skenes in living up to expectations. Fellow rookie Jared Jones joined Skenes in Pittsburgh's rotation in May and had a nice debut season, posting a 4.14 ERA in 22 starts, which was good for +0.4 WAA.
Henry Davis’ second big league season did not show growth — a .144/.242/.212 slash line in just over 100 at-bats — but the 2021 first overall draft pick is only 24 years old, so perhaps there’s still time for him to live up to the hype.
The problem is that expectations have been the game in Pittsburgh for a while now. The franchise is still waiting for KeBryan Hayes to produce consistent value at third base. Ditto for shortstop and outfielder Oneil Cruz. In 2024, the total of those projected stars’ contributions equaled 0.0 WAA.
Before Skenes arrived, Mitch Keller was supposed to be the rotation anchor and David Bednar the door-slamming closer. Neither produced positive value in 2024.
Given his .417 slugging average in Miami, there was reason to believe that Cherington had engineered a steal when he got outfielder Bryan De La Cruz from the Marlins in a deadline trade for two minor leaguers. However, De La Cruz batted .200 with just three homers and nine extra base hits in 44 games for Pittsburgh, and he was non-tendered just last week.
Like the Pirates and their middling 76-86 record in 2024, Cherington's season was about as "meh" as you could imagine.
Previous Rankings:
24. Detroit Tigers, Scott Harris president of baseball operations, -5.3.
23. Pittsburgh Pirates, Ben Cherington, executive vice president and general manager, -2.2
Next: 22. Washington Nationals Mike Rizzo, president of baseball operations and 0general manager, -1.0