Ben Cherington said the Pirates will have a "short-term" focus at the trade deadline during his team-produced radio show this afternoon.
"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," Cherington said. "That doesn't mean we wouldn't trade a player for a prospect. That just means that, if we do, 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 Pirates are last in Major League Baseball in slugging percentage (.340), runs (325), doubles (126), and home runs (66). They are in the bottom five in hits (725; 28th), RBIs (314; 29th), batting average (.229; 28th), on-base percentage (.300; 26th), and OPS (.641; 29th).
"To win more games in 2026, we've got to score more runs. Our pitching and defense have mostly kept us in games, with the exception of every once in a while, we have a game like yesterday," Cherington said. "But, for the most part, we're in games, we're just not scoring enough runs to both put together longer winning streaks or avoid losing streaks like we're on right now. So we have to solve that. We have to score more runs."
The Pirates are in the midst of a season-high eight-game losing streak.
“This has been a very difficult stretch and we’re ultimately responsible for that. We have to fix it," Cherington said. "We have to take the silver lining of that. Sometimes that means that between now and the end of July, opportunities will come our way. We have to be ready to take advantage of those. To be opportunistic, to be ready to act, if there are things clearly of benefit to the Pirates long term. That’s our job."
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THE ASYLUM
Cherington: 'Our focus is short-term' at deadline
Ben Cherington said the Pirates will have a "short-term" focus at the trade deadline during his team-produced radio show this afternoon.
"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," Cherington said. "That doesn't mean we wouldn't trade a player for a prospect. That just means that, if we do, 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 Pirates are last in Major League Baseball in slugging percentage (.340), runs (325), doubles (126), and home runs (66). They are in the bottom five in hits (725; 28th), RBIs (314; 29th), batting average (.229; 28th), on-base percentage (.300; 26th), and OPS (.641; 29th).
"To win more games in 2026, we've got to score more runs. Our pitching and defense have mostly kept us in games, with the exception of every once in a while, we have a game like yesterday," Cherington said. "But, for the most part, we're in games, we're just not scoring enough runs to both put together longer winning streaks or avoid losing streaks like we're on right now. So we have to solve that. We have to score more runs."
The Pirates are in the midst of a season-high eight-game losing streak.
“This has been a very difficult stretch and we’re ultimately responsible for that. We have to fix it," Cherington said. "We have to take the silver lining of that. Sometimes that means that between now and the end of July, opportunities will come our way. We have to be ready to take advantage of those. To be opportunistic, to be ready to act, if there are things clearly of benefit to the Pirates long term. That’s our job."
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