Pirates GM Ben Cherington sticks with 'authentic' approach while retaining coaches, scouts

SAN DIEGO — There is a certain segment of fans and media members who have advocated that the Pittsburgh Pirates fire everyone.

Owner Bob Nutting has done his share of firing since the end of a season in which the Pirates had a 69-93 record and finished last in the National League Central for the first time since 2010.

Manager Clint Hurdle was fired Sept. 29, hours before the last game of the season. The Pirates followed suit by canning pitching coach Ray Searage and bench coach Tom Prince in short order.

Team president Frank Coonelly and general manager Neal Huntington got the ax in late October. Kyle Stark, Huntington’s top assistant, also got boxed.

However, not everyone was jettisoned, which angers some fans. Hitting coach Rick Eckstein, third base coach Joey Cora and assistant pitching coach Justin Meccage have all been retained, along with farm director Larry Broadway and scouting director Joe Delli Carri.

That leads to the question of why Cherington didn’t completely clean house in the days following his hiring Nov. 18?

Part of it has to do with the lateness of the hire. Contracts for front-office personnel and coaches generally run from Nov. 1-Oct. 31. By the time Cherington took over, many people were already under contract for the 2020 season.

It also isn’t in Cherington’s nature to act irrationally.

He developed the reputation of being fair and measured in making decisions during his stint as the Boston Red Sox’s GM from 2012-15. That has held to form during his early days on the job in Pittsburgh.

Thus, there has been no scorched earth approach.

“Going with that approach wouldn’t be authentic to who I am,” Cherington said before the Winter Meetings ended Thursday morning. “I couldn’t pull it off if I tried. That would be the first thing. Not to say it can’t work. It’s not necessarily the wrong approach for some teams. But that approach wouldn’t work for me because it wouldn’t be consistent with who I am, so I couldn’t pull it off.”

The Pirates had a disastrous year, including going 25-48 following the All-Star break amidst clubhouse unrest. Furthermore, their inability to procure and develop impact players in recent years has been well-documented.

However, Cherington doesn’t believe that the failures mean the organization is totally rotted.

“There are good people everywhere,” Cherington said. “This is a competitive business. There are 30 teams, and every team has access to players in the draft and international market, so there are good players everywhere.

“There’s going to be talent in every organization. There’s going to be good people in baseball operations, in coaching and scouting, because every team is competing to hire people. I think going in, you want to find out who those people are and find out if there is something you can do to help uncover some hidden skill, untap some opportunity somehow, whether it’s a staff member or a player.”

Cherington also believes that changing jobs with the same organization can sometimes bring out the best in people.

“Maybe there’s some role adjustment; maybe someone’s skill set is better in a different role,” Cherington said. “And over time you learn about that there’s people who, well, maybe it makes sense for them to be someplace else because it’s just not the right fit or whatever. You figure that out over time.”