I’m catching up on some news this morning that was reported over the past few days. I’ll have a column to follow after I fully take in the news. I already know that we’ll be adding a bit of things we’ve been hearing, which are related to what is happening in the minors.
First, Jason Mackey is reporting that the Pirates’ GM job is Ben Cherington’s if he wants it, and that there is expected to be some sort of announcement on Monday. Mackey has been killing it so far this offseason with the front office reports, so when he’s reporting something now, I’m taking notice.
Ben Cherington has never hit anyone with a football helmet — to my knowledge, anyway. However, he might soon be the Pirates’ GM: https://t.co/07rxxwJ2Wd
— Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) November 15, 2019
Quick thought on this report, since it won’t be the theme of my column later today: I’m still hoping they announce Cherington as the President of Baseball Operations, and have him hire a GM (Matt Arnold!), while keeping Kevan Graves as an assistant GM.
I like the idea of Cherington and Arnold at the top. From everything I’ve seen, Cherington gets good reports for his scouting and development work, while Arnold comes from a team that has done a great job at MLB scouting and team building, all while knowing how to operate under a small market budget.
I also think that people need to find the proper perspective for Kevan Graves. I’ve seen two extremes mentioned a lot. One is that he, and everyone else, needs to be fired along with Huntington to remove any trace of what led to the last few years. The other is that he should be the GM because he might be a rising star and the Pirates can’t let him get away.
First, I’ll say that I’ve talked to Graves a lot in his time with the Pirates. I’m a big MLB rules guy, and love knowing the obscure transaction rules that only come up once every 3-4 years. Graves knows the ins and outs of the CBA better than anyone. All of those crafty moves to keep people on the roster, or to find loopholes in the rules — that’s Graves. He’s the reason they’ve been so good at that.
Regardless of who the GM is, that kind of knowledge and experience is valuable on its own. Graves isn’t just a rules guy. He also has a good mind for baseball, with plenty of “Baseball 2019” knowledge.
If you’ve followed my writing the last few months, you might notice a trend. The game has evolved, and we’re left with two types of people. There are people like Neal Huntington who are operating under pre-2015 methods, and there are people who realize the game has changed and are adapting to that change.
Huntington is a very smart guy. We saw that in 2013-15. But the game changed and he didn’t change with it. It’s not about having smart executives now. It’s about having smart executives who realize that we’re in the technology era of MLB. The game is going to be rapidly advancing, and you want people who are open to changing and advancing with it, while investing heavily in the technology that will lead to the next advancement.
Graves is one of those guys. There are plenty more throughout the system. It will be the job of the next GM to try and retain as many of those guys as possible.
I’d be fine with Graves as a GM with Cherington as the President of Baseball Operations. I also think he’d be a great farm director if someone else was the GM.
MLB front offices are evolving, and you can no longer have one GM. You need as many GM-types as possible. You almost need to divide the GM job into 5-6 departments and have a GM to oversee each department. Then a GM to oversee all of the GMs, and a President of Baseball Operations to oversee that GM. That’s a lot of GMs, but the point is there’s plenty of room for a guy like Graves to stick around in an important role, even if it’s not one of the top two roles.
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I’m going to be writing a bit more on this later, but I wanted to point out the great reporting from Dejan Kovacevic on the Omar Moreno story. I’ll be adding some additional perspective to this with my article, and the bigger scale issues at play in the development system, adding a bit of what we’ve heard from different people still in the system.
I’ll also have a site update, hopefully today, but possibly tomorrow. It’s an announcement about a big announcement for the site. To be honest, right now I’m dealing with a huge migraine that I’ve had for 3-4 days now, totally destroying my sleep cycle, and putting me behind on the news this week. So things might be a bit slower today, as you can see by this going up at 11 AM.
Let’s get to the fun stuff.
SONG OF THE DAY
DAILY QUIZ
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
By John Dreker
Four former Pittsburgh Pirates born on this date.
Gus Bell, right fielder for the 1950-52 Pirates. He spent his first three seasons in the majors in Pittsburgh, hitting .270, with 40 homers and 201 RBIs in 391 games. Bell led the NL in triples in 1951. He was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for three players prior to the 1953 season and went on to play nine seasons there, making four All-Star teams and driving in 100+ runs four times. He is part of a three-generation family in the majors, with his son Buddy Bell, playing a long career, followed by grandson’s Mike and David Bell both making the majors.
Maurice Van Robays, outfielder for the 1939-43 and 1946 Pirates. He spent his entire six-year career in the majors with Pittsburgh, while missing two full seasons due to WWII. He batted .267 with 20 homers, 303 RBIs and 232 runs scored in 529 games. Van Robays drove in 111 runs during the 1940 season, which ranked third best in the National League.
Craig Hansen, pitcher for the 2008-09 Pirates. He was part of the return in the Jason Bay trade at the 2008 trade deadline. Injuries limited him to just 21 games with the Pirates. Hansen had a 6.95 ERA in 22 innings. In parts of three years with Boston, he had a 6.15 ERA in 74 appearances.
Randy Niemann, pitcher for the 1982-83 Pirates. He pitched 28 games total for the Pirates in those two seasons, spending part of each year as a starting pitcher in the minors. He went 1-2 6.24 in 49 innings for Pittsburgh. Niemann came to the Pirates from the Houston Astros as the player to be named later in the Johnny Ray for Phil Garner trade. He was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Miguel Dilone in September of 1983.
