General manager Ben Cherington says the Pirates are making progress, but “We’re not winning enough. It has to happen better and faster.”
Cherington held his season-ending news conference yesterday. He said the slow improvement the team has been making led to the dismissals of three coaches, Andy Haines, Justin Meccage, and Adam Vish. But the changes will not include manager Derek Shelton, whom he says “already does a lot of the aspects of the job very well…(and) “works as hard as any manager in the game, and…cares as much as any manager in the game.”
The Pirates ranked next-to-last in Major League Baseball in salary this season and while they will drop more than $36 million in expiring contracts, they will have nine players eligible for arbitration and pay raises will kick in on some long-term contracts for anchor players such as Brian Reynolds and Mitch Keller.
Ultimately, Cherington said it is his responsibility to make the team better, and his goal in 2025 will be no lower than making it into the National League playoffs.
MLB
Only one MLB Wild Card series is left to be decided after the Tigers swept the Astros and the Royals eliminated the Orioles yesterday. Detroit beat Houston 5-2 with a bases-clearing 8th inning double by Andy Ibánez and the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. drove in the winning run for the second straight game to oust the Orioles, 2-1.
In the NL, the Padres swept the Braves 5-4, scoring all five runs in the second inning. Milwaukee evened their series with the Mets 5-3. The deciding game is in New York tonight.
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