The Pittsburgh Pirates will name Ben Cherrington as the team’s new general manager, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Friday.
The former Boston Red Sox executive vice president and general manager, 45, has been the Toronto Blue Jays’ senior vice president of baseball operations for just over three years.
Cherington, who replaced Theo Epstein in Boston following the 2011 season, spent four seasons in his Red Sox post before Dave Dombrowski was brought aboard as the team’s president of baseball operations. Cherington was invited to remain as GM, but he left his role with the Red Sox with a year remaining on his contract.
The 2013 Red Sox won the World Series with Cherington making the personnel moves, but the team failed to reach the playoffs in his other three seasons at the helm.
Cherington orchestrated the 2012 trade that sent Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He also replaced manager Bobby Valentine with John Farrell before the 2013 season, and the Red Sox went on to win the title.
The Pirates fired general manager Neal Huntington last month. They also parted ways with president Frank Coonelly in October. One of Cherington’s first major moves will be to replace manager Clint Hurdle, who was fired at the end of September.
