SAN DIEGO — For most teams, the Winter Meetings are a flurry of signings, trades and hot stove rumors.
That might not be the case for the Pirates this week. While they are expected to start a rebuild this offseason and have tantalizing trade chips to offer, general manager Ben Cherington and his executives have allocated a lot of their time and effort thus far to more internal matters, such as fielding a major league staff, filling holes in the player development and minor league coaching ranks and solidifying the roles of the people in baseball operations.
"We're spending as much time as we can on player-related opportunities, definitely more [so] in the last few days than we were in the week before that," Cherington said. "But we're still spending maybe more time than some of our competitors in just getting to know each other and hiring, certainly in the major-league area. Just getting clear on how we're going to work together."
There is good reason why Cherington and some of his executives are working out how they are going to work together: This is still a very new arrangement. Cherington was hired on Nov. 18, a very late start for a new general manager, and then he had to throw himself into the manager search, which came to an end on Nov. 27 with the hiring of Derek Shelton. He was not afforded much time to evaluate the players and infrastructure of the franchise before going to San Diego.
But the winter meetings are a prime time to at least lay the groundwork for a future move. Cherington said he has made calls on players and taken calls on Pirates, and as he put it: "There's a good amount of interest in several players on our team."
The most likely of those players to be dealt this offseason is Starling Marte.
To make sure the Pirates do still take advantage of the opportunity of the meetings, the front office has been divided into groups with different areas of focus, including one for free agents and one for trades.
"We know that we can't chase 100 rabbits at once," Cherington said. "Try to chase the most important ones."
While the trend across baseball in recent years has been to forge ahead with aggressive rebuilds to tank and slowly get better, it does not seem like that is a rabbit the Pirates will chase.
"It's just really keeping an eye on tomorrow and next year and five years from now, and every day in between," Cherington said. "I think it's not placing all the weight on any particular day or year or season, but understanding that to be a really great team, we're gonna need more than one more good player, and that'll come through acquisition or development or all those means. We can't be close-minded to any single opportunity."
• Cherington said the Pirates have communicated to other teams they are interested in learning about their interest in Pirates players.
"We wouldn't want to stop any conversation about any player," he said.
This is partially for scouting, to get a sense of how other teams value their players. While he said he is not looking to trade anyone in particular and that it would make less sense to try to move certain players, he added, "I don't think we're in a position to say we can't talk about anybody."
• The offseason market is moving pretty fast this winter, especially when compared to the last two years. While Cherington is not exactly sure why that's the case, he said it has not impacted the Pirates much.
"The free agents that we're probably involved in or would be involved in are still free agents."
• Three things stood out to Cherington and Shelton while interviewing new bench coach Don Kelly.
1. He exudes a level of positivity. "Belief in players, belief in the opportunity to get better. And that feels infectious," Cherington said.
2. They liked that he was experienced in different areas of the game, like player development and scouting. Kelly was a part of the Tigers front office from 2017-2018 before joining the Astros as their first base coach in 2019.
3. There was an "overwhelming feedback" on who he is as a person, a thinker and a learner. Cherington joked that his networking skills are top notch and he has half the league in his phone.
Kelly was hired on Dec. 6.
• Justin Meccage, the Pirates assistant pitching coach the last two years, is being considered to be the team's pitching coach. Cherington announced Saturday that Meccage would return to the organization in a role that is to be determined.
External candidates are also being considered.
• As for the rest of the coaching staff, Rick Eckstein will return as hitting coach and Joey Cora as third base coach. Besides them and Meccage, it looks like there will be a lot of overhaul. When asked if any other members of the staff could return, Cherington said:
"I would never rule out anything unequivocally. We've had conversations with all of the folks from that staff, and the folks that weren't in the announcement we've let know that we encourage them to continue to look for opportunities elsewhere. Not ruling anything out with the Pirates."
The Pirates still need, at the very least, a pitching coach (or an assistant pitching coach if Meccage gets the job) and an assistant hitting coach.
• Cherington offered some good news on Gregory Polanco. He gave a precursor that director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk could give better insight on Polanco's rehab than he could, but he summarized it by saying that everything he has gathered has been positive.
"We have an expectation there won't be any restrictions going into spring training."
• The Pirates need a catcher. While Cherington did not offer specific names of backstops the team liked, he did say the Pirates are looking for someone who prioritizes the relationship with the pitcher, game planning and the defensive aspects of the position. Other factors such as experience or age are not prerequisites.
He added at the end that he would also like someone who could contribute offensively, but, "We can't always get everything we want."
