Pirates GM Ben Cherington plans to make more moves: Time to 'take a step as a team'

By signing veteran first baseman/designated hitter Carlos Santana to a one-year contract worth $6.725 million, Ben Cherington made his biggest splash in free agency in three years with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pirates general manager sounded like someone who wasn’t done spending, talking about his hopes to continue to improve one of baseball’s youngest lineups.

“I think it’s more about wanting to improve in 2023 and take a step as a team,” Cherington said Tuesday afternoon in a video conference call. “We think it’s time to put our effort into doing that. We’ve got some flexibility to do that.”

So far, Cherington has acquired three first basemen – trading with Tampa Bay for Ji-Man Choi, claiming Lewin Diaz off waivers from Miami and signing Santana – and dealt middle infielder Kevin Newman to Cincinnati for right-handed reliever Dauri Moreta and infielder/outfielder Hoy Park to Boston for an 18-year-old pitcher.

“We still have this same goals,” Cherington said. “We want to add to the rotation. We’d still like to add to our position player group, to continue to lengthen the lineup out if we can and looking at free agency and trade possibilities to do that. And we’ll stay opportunistic in the bullpen as well. Nothing’s changed. We’ll continue to work on multiple fronts and stay engaged and hopeful we’ll continue to get some stuff done.”

The signing of Santana and the trade for Choi provides a significant defensive upgrade at first base and the promise of improving their second-half production at DH.

The Pirates could be more active than in years past at the winter meetings next week in San Diego, the first to be held on site since the start of the covid pandemic.

Cherington said the expectation of an improved defense could impact what types of players the Pirates pursue. The Athletic reported that they are in talks with right-handed starting pitcher Kyle Gibson and are interested in left-hander Jose Quintana and outfielder Joey Gallo.

“Anytime you add a player or consider what the lineup might be or the position group might be, you’re looking at all the skills: defense, offense, base running and factoring in the pitching staff,” Cherington said. “So, it is an element of it. The truth is, the biggest part of a position player’s value is almost all the time the offense. That’s going to drive it more than anything else. On the pitching side, the biggest piece of it is just overall how many bats they miss and how much weak contact do they get. As a secondary layer, sure, we look at the defensive impact of how different guys might be impacted either way.”

Without committing to a number — the 2022 Opening Day payroll, per Cot’s Contracts, was nearly $55.8 million — Cherington said he has flexibility to make moves. His focus is on improving the Pirates after they lost 100 games in back-to-back seasons.

The Pirates’ payroll is at $25 million with only four players under contract for 2023: third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes ($10 million), outfielder Bryan Reynolds ($6.75 million), Santana ($6.725 million) and outfielder Miguel Andujar ($1.525 million).

Choi, right-handed starting pitchers JT Brubaker and Mitch Keller and righty relievers Robert Stephenson and Duane Underwood Jr. are eligible for arbitration, which could add as much as a projected $11.8 million. With the majority of the roster making near the major league minimum, that leaves room for the Pirates to spend.

“More so than any sort of signal about dollars or payroll, I think what it signals is we want to get better and we want to get better in 2023,” Cherington said. “We think we’ve got a group of young players that has a chance to help us get better and continue to get better and we’ll try to add to that group in the way that makes the most sense, both to lengthen our lineup out and to build the deepest pitching staff we can.”