Cherington: Aware of Horwitz having wrist issue before trade
Ben Cherington acknowledged being aware that Spencer Horwitz had issues with his right wrist before the Pirates acquired him in a December trade with the Guardians, but added that the specific issue that led Horwitz's wrist surgery a week ago was "new."
I asked Cherington if he'd have cause to take issue with the trade itself, and he rejected that, adding that his side had all of the necessary medical records and other information from the Blue Jays, Horwitz's most recent team. (He was traded from Toronto to Cleveland before being moved to Pittsburgh.)
"No," Cherington replied to my question before referencing Dr. Thomas Graham, who performed the surgery a week ago to repair a damaged tendon. "This is very clear to us, based on the information that we got from Dr. Graham, that what happened that led to the surgery is new since the trade. It’s frustrating and it’s a setback, but it’s new information."
Horwitz is projected by the team to make a full recovery after 6-8 weeks. The Pirates' opener is March 27 in Miami, almost exactly six weeks away.
I asked Cherington if this was deemed a fairly clean procedure.
"I’m gonna lean on what Dr. Graham has told us, and he’s really optimistic and confident coming out of the surgery that he feels like it went really well and that Spencer should be back doing baseball stuff at some point during spring training and certainly with a chance to contribute in 2025," he replied. "We’re not going to put a timeline on that right now. We need to take it a day at a time, but Dr. Graham and Spencer himself have come out of the procedure really confident about what will happen in the next few weeks."
He added, "Spencer had some symptoms while he was in Toronto that we knew about and certainly covered at the time of the trade and had access to all that information and felt comfortable, obviously, at the time of the trade, based on the information that we had to go forward with the trade. Then, after the trade, really the first time I had heard about it was, I think shortly after PiratesFest, as he got into his offseason hitting progression he experienced some new symptoms. So after some back and forth and a period of rest, we decided to have him checked out again by Dr. Graham with a new MRI, and Dr. Graham, who had also seen him when he was with Toronto, identified the new injury to the tendon in his right wrist and recommended the procedure that happened a couple weeks ago."
Cherington didn't rule out making an external move to replace Horwitz, if needed, but he sure sounded as if that wouldn't be the case. He added that neither Bryan Reynolds nor Endy Rodriguez would be moving to first base. Or anywhere, for that matter. Reynolds will remain only an outfielder this spring, and Rodriguez will remain only a catcher.
As to the replacement candidates, he cited Darick Hall, a 29-year-old left-handed-hitting infielder who spent all of 2024 with the Phillies' Class AAA affiliate in Lehigh Valley and slashed .236/.340/.473 with 16 home runs, 72 RBIs and an International League-leading .995 fielding percentage at first, as well as DJ Stewart, a 31-year-old left-handed-hitting corner outfielder who split 2024 between the Mets and their Class AAA affiliate in Syracuse, N.Y.. He slashed .177/.325/.297 with five home runs and 19 RBIs in the majors, .280/.434/.451 with three home runs and nine RBIs in the minors. He then put forth that others might be given a shot, including utilitymen Jared Triolo and Billy Cook.
• Cherington's full session here:
• Cherington essentially confirmed my exclusive reporting late last night that the Pirates continue to search for a corner outfield, including my mention that it'd likely occur via trade.
"We really believe in the group that we have here and the group that we will have here as all the players report," he began. "We believe we strengthened the team this offseason with the additions we made. We believe we're deeper than we were in November. We believe we've added talent in places we want to have talent. We also believe, feel good that we've added some toughness and grit at a time when our sole focus should be winning. And we feel good about that."
He then added, "And there's more we wanted to do. There's more things we chased down that we were not able to do and our focus will continue to be on that. I think to some extent we think about how acquisitions are made, and the two kinds of acquisitions are free agency or trades, at least in an offseason. Free agency kind of lasts from November until March some time now and trades last from November to July and trades are always going to be a little bit bigger component of our team building, and so we're going to stay focused on that. We're going to keep looking to find opportunities to make the team better. Doesn't mean we're on the doorstep of anything, but that doesn't mean that's not going to change because we're here in Bradenton."
• On how the plan might be different for Paul Skenes in Year 2: "Well, certainly his buildup in spring training. Obviously, we took it really slow last year intentionally, and he's going to come into camp as you'd expect a regular starting pitcher to come into camp and get built up with the rest of the starters. We know how hard he's worked, and I don't think he went into this offseason any differently than he has in the past. He went in very focused on things he still wanted to improve. We'll see that play out now in spring training, and his buildup will be like a regular starter in the major leagues."
• On why he signed older veterans Adam Frazier and Tommy Pham: "I just think, 'Just keep the most important thing the most important thing,' and that's to win. Obviously, I know Fraz from his time being here before. I've kind of enjoyed, gotten the chance to talk to him, I think, in each of the offseasons since he left and got into free agency. Keeping those conversations going, kind of knowing where he is in his life and his career. Just kind of liked the idea of having a player like that who only cares about one thing and happens to care about Pittsburgh and has history here, coming back into our mix. And then Tommy, obviously, I don't have history with, but everything I've ever heard about Tommy and the due diligence we did is that this guy just cares about one thing and that's winning. And so, we like the idea of bringing that element into our clubhouse."
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Dejan Kovacevic
3:23 pm - 02.12.2025Bradenton, Fla.Cherington: Aware of Horwitz having wrist issue before trade
Ben Cherington acknowledged being aware that Spencer Horwitz had issues with his right wrist before the Pirates acquired him in a December trade with the Guardians, but added that the specific issue that led Horwitz's wrist surgery a week ago was "new."
I asked Cherington if he'd have cause to take issue with the trade itself, and he rejected that, adding that his side had all of the necessary medical records and other information from the Blue Jays, Horwitz's most recent team. (He was traded from Toronto to Cleveland before being moved to Pittsburgh.)
"No," Cherington replied to my question before referencing Dr. Thomas Graham, who performed the surgery a week ago to repair a damaged tendon. "This is very clear to us, based on the information that we got from Dr. Graham, that what happened that led to the surgery is new since the trade. It’s frustrating and it’s a setback, but it’s new information."
Horwitz is projected by the team to make a full recovery after 6-8 weeks. The Pirates' opener is March 27 in Miami, almost exactly six weeks away.
I asked Cherington if this was deemed a fairly clean procedure.
"I’m gonna lean on what Dr. Graham has told us, and he’s really optimistic and confident coming out of the surgery that he feels like it went really well and that Spencer should be back doing baseball stuff at some point during spring training and certainly with a chance to contribute in 2025," he replied. "We’re not going to put a timeline on that right now. We need to take it a day at a time, but Dr. Graham and Spencer himself have come out of the procedure really confident about what will happen in the next few weeks."
He added, "Spencer had some symptoms while he was in Toronto that we knew about and certainly covered at the time of the trade and had access to all that information and felt comfortable, obviously, at the time of the trade, based on the information that we had to go forward with the trade. Then, after the trade, really the first time I had heard about it was, I think shortly after PiratesFest, as he got into his offseason hitting progression he experienced some new symptoms. So after some back and forth and a period of rest, we decided to have him checked out again by Dr. Graham with a new MRI, and Dr. Graham, who had also seen him when he was with Toronto, identified the new injury to the tendon in his right wrist and recommended the procedure that happened a couple weeks ago."
Cherington didn't rule out making an external move to replace Horwitz, if needed, but he sure sounded as if that wouldn't be the case. He added that neither Bryan Reynolds nor Endy Rodriguez would be moving to first base. Or anywhere, for that matter. Reynolds will remain only an outfielder this spring, and Rodriguez will remain only a catcher.
As to the replacement candidates, he cited Darick Hall, a 29-year-old left-handed-hitting infielder who spent all of 2024 with the Phillies' Class AAA affiliate in Lehigh Valley and slashed .236/.340/.473 with 16 home runs, 72 RBIs and an International League-leading .995 fielding percentage at first, as well as DJ Stewart, a 31-year-old left-handed-hitting corner outfielder who split 2024 between the Mets and their Class AAA affiliate in Syracuse, N.Y.. He slashed .177/.325/.297 with five home runs and 19 RBIs in the majors, .280/.434/.451 with three home runs and nine RBIs in the minors. He then put forth that others might be given a shot, including utilitymen Jared Triolo and Billy Cook.
• Cherington's full session here:
• Cherington essentially confirmed my exclusive reporting late last night that the Pirates continue to search for a corner outfield, including my mention that it'd likely occur via trade.
"We really believe in the group that we have here and the group that we will have here as all the players report," he began. "We believe we strengthened the team this offseason with the additions we made. We believe we're deeper than we were in November. We believe we've added talent in places we want to have talent. We also believe, feel good that we've added some toughness and grit at a time when our sole focus should be winning. And we feel good about that."
He then added, "And there's more we wanted to do. There's more things we chased down that we were not able to do and our focus will continue to be on that. I think to some extent we think about how acquisitions are made, and the two kinds of acquisitions are free agency or trades, at least in an offseason. Free agency kind of lasts from November until March some time now and trades last from November to July and trades are always going to be a little bit bigger component of our team building, and so we're going to stay focused on that. We're going to keep looking to find opportunities to make the team better. Doesn't mean we're on the doorstep of anything, but that doesn't mean that's not going to change because we're here in Bradenton."
• On how the plan might be different for Paul Skenes in Year 2: "Well, certainly his buildup in spring training. Obviously, we took it really slow last year intentionally, and he's going to come into camp as you'd expect a regular starting pitcher to come into camp and get built up with the rest of the starters. We know how hard he's worked, and I don't think he went into this offseason any differently than he has in the past. He went in very focused on things he still wanted to improve. We'll see that play out now in spring training, and his buildup will be like a regular starter in the major leagues."
• On why he signed older veterans Adam Frazier and Tommy Pham: "I just think, 'Just keep the most important thing the most important thing,' and that's to win. Obviously, I know Fraz from his time being here before. I've kind of enjoyed, gotten the chance to talk to him, I think, in each of the offseasons since he left and got into free agency. Keeping those conversations going, kind of knowing where he is in his life and his career. Just kind of liked the idea of having a player like that who only cares about one thing and happens to care about Pittsburgh and has history here, coming back into our mix. And then Tommy, obviously, I don't have history with, but everything I've ever heard about Tommy and the due diligence we did is that this guy just cares about one thing and that's winning. And so, we like the idea of bringing that element into our clubhouse."
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