GM was anxious, says he was able to improve team

PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – He smiled during a question from Pittsburgh reporters Tuesday night of the emotions of being the Pirates general manager at the trade deadline. There appeared to be an exhale of relief, as Ben Cherington said he was able to get deals done that ‘recognize and honor the incredible hard work and toughness that our player group, our staff is showing’.

Not that it was easy. He and others in the front office had to wait it out with a couple of transactions announced right around the 6p EST MLB trade deadline, but believes he helped the Pirates get better this year and into the future.

In all, the Pirates made seven moves, the biggest likely for corner outfielder Bryan De La Cruz, they also added veteran infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa and lefty reliever Jalen Beeks.

“We know we want to find ways to help the team get better,” Cherington said Tuesday. “We also know that we can’t make every move that comes our way. We can’t except every offer that comes our way because we wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we did that.”

Cherington said they were disciplined to their process and when you do that, it means waiting. As much as fans in the dark were wondering, even the Pirates GM had to agonize about potential trades and remain patient. He said you have to wait for deals to come to you.

“It can be anxious because you want to do something, but you don’t want to do something that doesn’t make sense for us,” Cherington said on a Zoom call. “We work through that, grind through that. Certainly some moments yesterday and today where we were anxious to try to get something done and wanted to get something done. Sometimes you are waiting on an answer. Sometimes you have three or four balls in the air and you are trying to be there when the right one falls.”

Cherington said he was aware of all the trades made because he had talked to all the teams about players who moved. He credited his staff with providing him with great information and they were in a spot to make good decisions.

Were these moves impacted at all by emotional, gritty comeback wins on Sunday and Monday?

Cherington said he doesn’t think so, not that he, and the organization didn’t love the victories. He said they were important to the culture they are building with the Pirates, but their mind was pretty much made up in mid-July.

“We formulated a plan two weeks ago, three weeks ago,” Cherington said. “We kind of knew where we were then. I don’t think you can let single outcomes, day-to-day outcomes, as we get this close to it, push you in either direction.”

“That wouldn’t be following our process, if we allowed ourselves to do that. So, we stuck to a plan we had set two or three weeks ago. We had a lot of people here who care about the team watching those comebacks, tough comebacks. It was fun watching them in the room, but don’t believe it impacted the decisions either way.”

In the end, Cherington said being patient and smart helped make this team stronger now and into the future.

Not that it was easy.