More than payroll
Team brass says more than money goes into building a championship
When president Travis Williams, general manager Ben Cherington and manager Derek Shelton took the stage on Saturday for a questionand-answer session with fans at David L. Lawrence Convention Center for Pirates Fest, there was no shortage of questions about ... well, the questions.
The Pirates had required fans to submit them ahead of time, a move that could have easily been construed as trying to hide from negativity. Butif that was indeed the goal, the team did a horrible job. First question out of the chute, in fact, involved payroll and when the Pirates would spend enough to compete.
“Thanks for the softball, Greg, ”Williams joked, talking toplay-by-play Greg Brown.
Williams’ answer was basically that payroll isn’t everything — there are more areas the Pirates must master — but that they’re also committed to spending enough to win. The answer might not sit well with some folks who want to see the Pirates spend more, but at least they allowed the question to be asked.
“I’d say that payroll, while important, is not the most important factor in terms of how we get to building a championship-caliber team for our fans,” Williams said. “There’s an absolute commitment starting from [owner] Bob Nutting to myself to Ben to Derek to build a playoff- and championship-caliber team for this fanbase. They deserve it.”
Williams also said the Pirates rank in the top five when it comes to developmental spending across MLB, a charge that’s difficult to track but does square with the organization’s continued assertions that it invests in things like technology, international scouting, the MLB draft and more.
Later on, in another setting where the group did not avoid a critical-yet-important question, Williams was asked via submitted query when the Pirates would spend at a level commensurate with other clubs.
“Igo back to what I said earlier: We’re putting all of our revenues back into the ball club,” Williams said. “We’re trying to get better every day and investing in areas where we’re gonna get better every day.”
It seemed Williams was referencing things like infrastructure, coaching, development, drafting — parts of a baseball club more repeatable for small-market clubs. It’s also true that the Pirates must raise payroll and acquire more major league help.
While emphasizing a couple times that he did not feel comfortable talking about other teams, Williams added that he believes in the Pirates’ plan to build a winner, hopefully as early as 2024, and that itwould not change because of aTV deal or anything else.
“We’re doing all the right things to win for Pittsburgh,” Williams said. “We also want to make this work within the economics of baseball.
“So, again, I can’t speak to other teams and how they’re doing it, but can feel really really comfortable with the direction that we’re going.”
Another interesting part of the session involved Cherington’s answers on a potential trade. Fans asked a couple times about his inactivity and the need to improve the starting rotation.
Cherington didn’t back down from anything ... but also insisted he’s not done. In what will likely be encouraging for fans to hear, Cherington
said there’s more he would like to do before pitchers and catchers report to Pirate City.
“We’re working hard, and we’ve got more stuff that we want to do and aim to do between now and February,” Cherington said, his first time of several driving home this point. Cherington added that the Pirates have offered multiyear contracts to pitchers this offseason, but obviously nothing has come to fruition.
Whatever happens, the goals for 2024 are clear — so said Shelton. The Pirates manager didn’t obfuscate what he feels this group can accomplish. Shelton thinks the Pirates can win the NL Central.
“Our goal was to play playoff games in October,” Shelton said.“Whether that’s winning the Central, which is definitely the goal, or being a playoff caliber team, that’s something we’re striving for.
“And I will be very clear in our first message in Bradenton in about a month that we should be thinking about that everyday.”
It would have been strange for Pirates leadership to sit at the front of a room and say they thought everything was going to be terrible, so their optimism wasn’t exactly a surprise. But how they conducted the Q&A was a bit unique.
They had questions submitted ahead of time to streamline the process while also allowing for some live mic stuff that occasionally did geta little tense.
At one point, a fan asked Cherington if the Pirates cared so much about development, why in the world did Roansy Contreras, Luis Ortiz and Quinn Priester lose velocity and struggle in their developmentlast season?
“It’s a fair question,” Cherington said, before explaining that not all pitching development is linear and that the Pirates are doing all they can tohelp those guys.
“When things don’t progress, we dive deep,” Cherington said. “We get deep into what’s going on under the hood, and we look to re-engineer why that is. It’s all about how do we continue to create the best possible programming and resources around thoseguys.”
Among more highlights, Williams said the SportsNet Pittsburgh deal would have zeroimpact on spending.
“We’re not changing out plan, not changing our payroll,” he said. “We’re committed to our plan, and we’re goingto stick to it.”
Another fan asked Shelton about the team “falling apart” after a 20-8 start and what the Pirates needed to do to be better this time around. The question may have sounded harsh, but it was absolutely fair and one these guys had to know they were going to get.
Shelton’s answer hit a lot on consistency, young players experiencing the major leagues for the first time and also lessons they needed to build a deeper roster, a theme that has carried into this offseason.
“The core of our team is always going to be the guys that are here, the guys that are literally in this building today,” Cherington said. “So that’s reallyexciting.
“We knew we needed to add to the rotation and build a deeper lineup. … We’re engaged on a number of fronts, and certainly my hope is that there’s going to be more happening between now and springtraining.”