Ben Cherington's team-produced radio show with Joe Block will take place ahead of the Pirates' series finale against the Twins as they head into the All-Star break. I'll provide updates here:
• After the last week of losing baseball, Cherington reiterates his consistent statement of "the fans deserve more." He added they had to be "pretty open-minded" about how they need to improve.
• Cherington on the trade deadline: "Our focus is short-term. By short term, I don't necessarily mean August of 2025. But our focus is going to be, how do we get this thing on track and be better in 2026, win more games in 2026. That's our focus in all of our decision-making. That doesn't mean we wouldn't trade a player for a prospect, that just means that if do that, it's in our mind, a way to add value to the organization that we can somehow use that to build back toward a better team in 2026."
"The simplest thing beyond that is, obviously, in order to win more games in 2026, we got to score more runs. Our pitching and defense has mostly kept us in games, with the exception of every once in a while, we have a game like yesterday. But, for the most part, we're in games, we're just not scoring enough runs to both put together longer winning streaks and or avoid the losing streak we're on right now. So we have to solve that. We have to score more runs. That's an overall goal."
• On receiving trade calls, Cherington said: "It's busy. It's busy every day." He said he was taking trade calls up until yesterday, but expected those calls to slow down today and tomorrow because of the draft.
• On Colin Holderman, Cherington said he needs to find "confidence" in all of his pitches and "needs to get it back on track while he's with Class AAA Indianapolis.
• On Jared Triolo getting sent to Indianapolis: "We still believe there's more offense in there." Cherington is still high on Triolo's defense, but thought the inconsistency of playing time played a part in Triolo's performance at the plate: "We still believe in him."
• Cherington said they hope to re-sign Matt Gorski after designating him for assignment recently when they called up Yohan Ramirez.
• On Oneil Cruz: Cherington said he's still going through his assessment and they need to be careful with him, but don't think it's anything serious.
• On Cruz participating in the Home Run Derby: "Obviously, we need to be really careful and really sure that he's in a strong spot physically in order for it to make sense for him to participate in the Derby. If he is, we support him participating in the Derby. We think it's something he really wanted to do, it's exciting for the game, and we want to support it. But obviously, it only makes sense if he's physically in a really good spot to be able to do it. So we just don't have quite enough information yet. But I think by the end of the game, we will."
• On the draft, Cherington said they are trying to get "as much talent" as they possibly can. He said it's not all about one pick.
• Cherington on having the draft during the All-Star break: "It does make for an incredibly busy July for us." But said he's open to anything, within reason, to grow the game.
• Cherington said they'll bring Konnor Griffin to Pittsburgh to get him checked out by team doctors, "to be 100% sure that he's okay." Griffin said after the Futures Game last night that he's "good."
• On Paul Skenes pitching in the All-Star game: "What he's doing is remarkable. Most importantly, we want him on the mound for the Pirates in a Pirates uniform, helping us win games. But pitching in this game was important to him and he wants to be a part of the success of the league, also. So we worked hard to make sure that he could do both. We'll watch and root for him on Tuesday and then look forward to his next outing in a Pirates uniform after that."
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Greg Macafee
5:09 pm - 07.13.2025DOWNTOWNFinal: Cherington's radio show
Ben Cherington's team-produced radio show with Joe Block will take place ahead of the Pirates' series finale against the Twins as they head into the All-Star break. I'll provide updates here:
• After the last week of losing baseball, Cherington reiterates his consistent statement of "the fans deserve more." He added they had to be "pretty open-minded" about how they need to improve.
• Cherington on the trade deadline: "Our focus is short-term. By short term, I don't necessarily mean August of 2025. But our focus is going to be, how do we get this thing on track and be better in 2026, win more games in 2026. That's our focus in all of our decision-making. That doesn't mean we wouldn't trade a player for a prospect, that just means that if do that, it's in our mind, a way to add value to the organization that we can somehow use that to build back toward a better team in 2026."
"The simplest thing beyond that is, obviously, in order to win more games in 2026, we got to score more runs. Our pitching and defense has mostly kept us in games, with the exception of every once in a while, we have a game like yesterday. But, for the most part, we're in games, we're just not scoring enough runs to both put together longer winning streaks and or avoid the losing streak we're on right now. So we have to solve that. We have to score more runs. That's an overall goal."
• On receiving trade calls, Cherington said: "It's busy. It's busy every day." He said he was taking trade calls up until yesterday, but expected those calls to slow down today and tomorrow because of the draft.
• On Colin Holderman, Cherington said he needs to find "confidence" in all of his pitches and "needs to get it back on track while he's with Class AAA Indianapolis.
• On Jared Triolo getting sent to Indianapolis: "We still believe there's more offense in there." Cherington is still high on Triolo's defense, but thought the inconsistency of playing time played a part in Triolo's performance at the plate: "We still believe in him."
• Cherington said they hope to re-sign Matt Gorski after designating him for assignment recently when they called up Yohan Ramirez.
• On Oneil Cruz: Cherington said he's still going through his assessment and they need to be careful with him, but don't think it's anything serious.
• On Cruz participating in the Home Run Derby: "Obviously, we need to be really careful and really sure that he's in a strong spot physically in order for it to make sense for him to participate in the Derby. If he is, we support him participating in the Derby. We think it's something he really wanted to do, it's exciting for the game, and we want to support it. But obviously, it only makes sense if he's physically in a really good spot to be able to do it. So we just don't have quite enough information yet. But I think by the end of the game, we will."
• On the draft, Cherington said they are trying to get "as much talent" as they possibly can. He said it's not all about one pick.
• Cherington on having the draft during the All-Star break: "It does make for an incredibly busy July for us." But said he's open to anything, within reason, to grow the game.
• Cherington said they'll bring Konnor Griffin to Pittsburgh to get him checked out by team doctors, "to be 100% sure that he's okay." Griffin said after the Futures Game last night that he's "good."
• On Paul Skenes pitching in the All-Star game: "What he's doing is remarkable. Most importantly, we want him on the mound for the Pirates in a Pirates uniform, helping us win games. But pitching in this game was important to him and he wants to be a part of the success of the league, also. So we worked hard to make sure that he could do both. We'll watch and root for him on Tuesday and then look forward to his next outing in a Pirates uniform after that."
Want to participate in our comments?
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Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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