Ben Cherington believes the Pittsburgh Pirates are getting better, they’re just not doing it fast enough. The general manager hopes a coaching shakeup can help speed up the process.
While manager Derek Shelton will return in 2025, hitting coach Andy Haines and bullpen coach Justin Meccage will not. The team dismissed both on Wednesday, three days after the Pirates finished 76-86 for a second straight season despite the arrival of rookie ace Paul Skenes.
“What I believe we need to do is develop just more cohesion, tighter alignment, tighter connection inside our major league group so that work that goes towards getting players better faster is happening better and faster all the time,” Cherington said.
Pittsburgh was 55-52 at the trade deadline before a 21-34 freefall through the final two months dropped the Pirates to last in the NL Central for the third time in the five years since Cherington took over in late 2019.
The team has yet to finish higher than fourth during Cherington’s tenure. There was optimism after a strong start that was then buoyed by Skenes’ arrival in mid-May. The hard-throwing right-hander put together one of the best rookie seasons by a pitcher in recent memory — going 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 23 starts while starting the All-Star Game and electrifying the team’s fan base — but Pittsburgh’s season came undone by failures around him, most noticeably at the plate.
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