Ben Cherington's successors?

Well, yeah, they're out there. Already. And as invariably occurs when any of our teams has a significant opening, I'll hear from such people. Aggressively, too. Which makes sense, if one weighs that, depending on the sport, there are only 30-32 of any main job on the planet.

And so it's been for a couple weeks now, related mostly to Cherington. I've heard from people -- eminently qualified, instant-massive-upgrade people -- or from those who close to those people, eager to learn what they can about the Pirates' seemingly pending-in-perpetuity general manager vacancy. Because they'd love the chance to take it.

That's how this works, by the way. There's no weirder narrative in professional sports than whether or not someone might find any vacancy attractive. Given the number of options, and from there the number of available options, only the most elite of elites can afford to be picky.

That's as far as I'll take this, other than to reiterate that the field of potential suitors is ... wow.

• What they like in Pittsburgh, specifically, is the obvious: There's a rotation here, and that's the hardest part to acquire within a low budget, as anyone would have here until Major League Baseball gets its salary cap. They feel as if all they'd need to add are 3-4 hitters. 

• Cherington, of course, can't even add one. Over five-plus years. The only reliable regulars in the lineup were acquired by Neal Huntington (Bryan Reynolds, Oneil Cruz) and Dave Littlefield (Andrew McCutchen). This won't change. There's no eye for hitting talent. None. And the industry as a whole knows it.

• It's impossible to not love Henry Davis. Wonderful kid. But he's a No. 1 overall draft pick, he's 25, he's a backup catcher who'd be in the minors if Endy Rodriguez hadn't gotten hurt, and he's 4 for 30 since his most recent recall. One scout told me in Bradenton in the spring after that draft that he couldn't believe the Pirates took him. Sounded like bluster, so I challenged him on it. He responded with a litany of stuff ... all of it having proven correct.

• I'm not anti-stats. I think that's an ignorant, backward stance to take. Math's math, and it's almost always of use. But not in isolation. Take it from Jack Wilson, my favorite shortstop, late last night on social media: Baseball is played on the field. Not on a calculator.

• So many of the alumni are fed up. I only wish more of them would pipe up. Pittsburghers have forever valued the players, even in tough times, and what they have to say.

• It's routine to pick apart press releases with announcements like the one yesterday, but let the record show that, when Clint Hurdle was fired, he was fired by Huntington. By name:

PIRATES

The one yesterday had nothing of the kind:

PIRATES

Also and related, on that same Sunday back in 2019, it was Bob Nutting who led the way into Hurdle's office, joined by Huntington and a couple other team officials. It was Nutting who gave Hurdle the option to manage the team's regular-season finale that day -- which Hurdle declined -- and it was Nutting who fired Hurdle.

Cherington had as much to do with firing Shelton yesterday as he did with picking the new Pope.

• This decision had nothing to do with the MLB Draft July 13-14. There are multiple people within Cherington's front office, chiefly Kevan Graves, who served as interim GM after Huntington's firing, who are capable of carrying out routine GM duties. And another assistant GM, Steve Sanders, oversees the draft. Also, all of the work that's been done, scouting or analytical, is proprietary.

• Don't overthink the why in this equation: Nutting can have an exasperating level of trust/patience in those he hires. As he's explained to me many times, the moment he totally loses trust, that's when he lets go, but not before. But that takes a ton, as he showed with both of Cherington's predecessors, as well. I've shared this here before. I've shared it with him face-to-face, too, when we talk about this kind of thing. It's ... something.

• Remarkably, there's a rational, research-based case for Cherington being one of the worst GMs in baseball history, per research by our Greg Macafee and Eric Bowser. Must-read stuff. I'll wait here until you do.

• On the bright side, don't say we aren't witnessing something unique. Save those ticket stubs.

• I can't fully fathom what kind of a comeback Cherington would have to make to keep this job beyond 2025, but I'm thinking it'd be akin to this:

• Ain't happening. Dead man walking.

Which makes this entire scenario that much more pathetic. Because everyone around and under him knows this. It's ... unreal. And yet, it's not.

• I'll be at the Steelers' rookie minicamp this morning on the South Side, then head over to watch the beginning of the Don Kelly Managing Under Dead Man Walking Era at PNC Park.