For Cherington, learning is 'personal' -- and vital

During Spring Training, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington sat down with MLB.com to discuss his first offseason on the job and what he¡¯s learned since serving as general manager of the Red Sox from 2011-15. This is the first part of a series looking at how he¡¯s applying those lessons in Pittsburgh, even in these unusual times.

PITTSBURGH -- Ben Cherington doesn¡¯t remember the days feeling particularly long during his first few months as the Pirates¡¯ general manager. There was so much for him to learn about his new organization, so much excitement to get to work, so much to do.

After being hired on Nov. 18, Cherington made his temporary home in the SpringHill Suites hotel right across General Robinson Street from PNC Park. It may have been the shortest commute in baseball, about as close as he could get to the Pirates¡¯ offices on Federal Street without sleeping under his desk.

¡°It was not intentional, but practically, it worked well,¡± Cherington said, ¡°because there just wasn't much time to do anything else.¡±

Even with the season on hold due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Pirates still have tasks at hand. Coaches and trainers remain in contact with players. The front office stays in touch through Zoom and Slack. Analysts are tackling projects they normally couldn¡¯t at this time of year. Pittsburgh¡¯s scouts recently convened on a conference call to plan for the Draft.

¡°We need to be thinking about how to compensate for whatever lost time there is in the most creative ways that we can,¡± Cherington said recently. ¡°Because 2020 is just not going to look the same no matter what, so how do we do what we can to make up for that going forward?¡±

But there¡¯s only so much work to be done these days -- and none of it at PNC Park. Cherington returned home to his family, not to a North Shore hotel room, shortly after Spring Training was suspended and the Pirates went their separate ways from Bradenton, Fla. Now, he¡¯s got nothing but time with his wife and kids.

¡°It¡¯s funny. My life is pretty boring, anyway. It¡¯s work and family,¡± Cherington said recently. ¡°So, it¡¯s still the same two things -- just in slightly different proportions.¡±

One Pittsburgh player described Cherington¡¯s leadership as ¡°weirdly calm and normal¡± during this decidedly abnormal time. In Spring Training, Pirates assistant general manager Kevan Graves said Cherington displayed that same level of composure from the moment he joined the organization despite getting a late start on the offseason.

¡°You could really tell that, not only has he been in the chair before, but he¡¯s really reflected and learned,¡± Graves said.

There¡¯s no doubting the value of previous experience, even if nobody in baseball has been through anything quite like this before. But Cherington, 45, says now that he¡¯s more prepared to lead the Pirates¡¯ baseball operations department than when he became Red Sox general manager in October 2011 because of his experiences since leaving Boston in August 2015.

¡°The four years in between were most important, because I had a lot of time to think about how I did the job, things I didn¡¯t do well, mistakes made, what I could learn from that,¡± Cherington said, ¡°and what it could mean if I had the opportunity to do it again.¡±

The Pirates gave him that opportunity this offseason. Through it all, Cherington showed a desire to continue learning -- from the successes and failures of his tenure in Boston, from his time in Toronto¡¯s front office and now from the people around him in Pittsburgh.

¡°I feel less fulfilled when I¡¯m not learning. I get frustrated when I¡¯m not learning,¡± Cherington said. ¡°I think part of it is something that¡¯s personal to me: I just feel better when I¡¯m learning. I think part of it¡¯s competitive: I think we need to keep learning, and that¡¯s an advantage if we keep learning.¡±