Ben Cherington is set to take his talents to the National League.
The baseball executive has accepted the role as the Pittsburgh Pirates general manager, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Jason Mackey reported Friday, citing sources. Having reportedly beat out the other finalist, Milwaukee Brewers vice president and assistant general manager Matt Arnold, for the Pirates GM job, Cherington replaces Neal Huntington as head of Pittsburgh’s baseball operations.
Cherington’s first major task will be to hire a Pirates manager to replace Clint Hurdle, whom the team fired in September after nine seasons in the dugout.
Cherington, 45, will leave the Toronto Blue Jays after three-plus years as their vice president of baseball operations for his new role in Pittsburgh. Prior to his stint in Toronto, he spent 17 years in the Boston Red Sox organization, rising from area scout to general manager, a position he held between 2011 and 2015. He rebuilt the Red Sox from a last-place team in 2012 to one that won the World Series the next year.
