Perrotto: Can Ben Cherington Get off of the Hot Seat?
One week has passed since Ben Cherington made a move, which he said happened in a “somber moment.”
The Pittsburgh Pirates’ general manager fired Derek Shelton. The two had been joined at the hip since the 2019-20 offseason, when they were hired to replace Neal Huntington and Clint Hurdle.
It is hard to quantify yet how much firing Shelton and promoting bench coach Don Kelly to manager has helped the Pirates.
They are 3-3 in Kelly’s first six games, five of which have been decided by one run. While playing .500 ball shouldn’t be the goal, it looks good in contrast to the Pirates starting the season 12-26.
The vibe has changed around the Pirates.
There is a buoyancy in the clubhouse that was missing. Kelly connects with the players because of his outgoing personality, genuineness, and how he fashioned a nine-year career in the major leagues based more on acumen than talent.
Also hard to quantify is the tenuousness of Cherington’s job status. Owner Bob Nutting says he is unhappy with how the season is going, but also feels Cherington deserves a chance to dig the Pirates out of their mess.
Cherington has been in baseball for a long time and knows how the game works.
He was all but forced out in his only other GM stint. In 2015, the Boston Red Sox hired Dave Dombrowski as president of baseball operations.
That effectively dropped Cherington to the No. 2 man in the Red Sox’s front office, and he immediately resigned.
“If you accept this job, you’re in it for this long and the results aren’t there yet, that’s going to be part of it,” Cherington, referring to speculation that he is on the hot seat. “In simple terms, it’s just about winning more games. We got to find a way to win more games.
“You can do the forensic thing on every front office in baseball and find things that go well and find things that don’t go well. We’ve got to improve. We’ve got to improve our results. I do this job because I love the work and I love the opportunity to help the Pirates in a way that serves our fans, that delivers to our fans. I don’t do it for any other reason.”
No one has ever questioned Cherington’s intentions, but the Pirates desperately need to improve their offense. They are last in MLB in runs scored with an average of just 3.07 a game. The Pirates’ .628 OPS is 29th, ahead of only the Chicago White Sox (.608).
Cherington went into the offseason knowing that the Pirates needed to add hitting. Yet all he did was re-sign Andrew McCutchen, trade for Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Spencer Horwitz via the Cleveland Guardians, and sign Adam Frazier and Tommy Pham in free agency.
McCutchen is still a productive player. However, Frazier and Pham have been awful, and Horwitz has yet to play for the Pirates after undergoing wrist surgery in January.
Cherington isn’t entirely to blame for the lackluster moves. Nutting again provided his GM with a tight budget.
However, Cherington has rarely hit on any minor trades or free agent signings while trying to find an undervalued hitter who could blossom in the major leagues.
Maybe outfielder Alexander Canario can be that player. Acquired from the New York Mets in a cash deal on March 31, the 25-year-old is hitting .314/.368/.457 in 10 games in May.
Time will tell whether it’s a random 10-game hot spell or the beginning of a good major-league career.
Whether Canario develops into an unlikely star won’t make or break Cherington.
Winning will and time is running out on a GM with a .411 winning percentage after five-plus years on the job.
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