Pirates chairman Nutting talks 2024, Cherington, more

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While at the Pirates’ Dominican Academy recently, I had the chance to speak one-on-one with chairman Bob Nutting. Some of the content was specific to the Dominican complex, but I also asked a few questions about the Major League team, general manager Ben Cherington and PNC Park. Here’s what he had to say.

Q: With Spring Training coming up, I think there’s a little bit of a buzz around the Major League team this year with 14 wins added last season. That’s not an insignificant amount in MLB. How does that performance -- on top of recent long-term extensions and adding vs. subtracting from the Major League roster -- affect strategy, what baseball moves you’d like to see, anything like that?

A: I think there are two really important elements to that. Yes, [we’re] incredibly pleased with the progression, not satisfied with where we ended, and it’s critically important to continue to grow. And so absolutely, we need to continue to build on the success and the excitement and momentum of last year. We saw that in the clubhouse with how we finished so strong and also finished with such a young, cohesive team. Those guys were ready to come back the next day.

So I think building on that and making sure we have resources available. It’s going to be critically important to continue to develop our internal players we already have, make sure they continue to progress. That’s where many of those 14 extra wins came from last year. And we need to be able to strategically sign those players who can impact the club over a long term. We did a couple of those last year. We continue looking for those opportunities. And to the degree we can also supplement and add, because there clearly will continue to be gaps and we’re always going to need to add, we need to be open to every one of those options.

Q: It’s Cherington’s fifth full season coming up. Not only at the MLB level but also at the organizational depth level, what do you think of the job that he’s been able to do?

A: I think Ben’s been fantastic. Extremely pleased with the work he’s done on the baseball side. Extremely pleased with the work he’s done on the culture side, building an organization we’re all proud of. But maybe most importantly, he’s surrounded himself with incredibly good and deep talent. We referred to him early on as what we hoped would be a “talent magnet.” He’s historically been able to recruit extraordinarily well, build strong teams, motivate strong teams. I think we’ve just seen that play out. I’m clearly supportive and very enthusiastic about Ben.

Q: There have been a lot of fan experience additions in recent years. Are there any more on the horizon or any additions you’re most proud of?

A: I think the improvements to PNC Park have been really good. PNC Park is the best ballpark in America, and we’re incredibly proud of it. But to keep it the best ballpark, we will need to continue to invest in and add to those fan experiences. I think what worked so well over the last couple of years in the projects that [ballpark design expert] Janet Marie Smith has designed and led is that they’ve stayed very true to the things that made PNC Park great in the first place. Radically changed, but added to the connection to the city, the connection between concourse areas and the field, making sure every fan is directly connected to the game and at the same time has an opportunity to mingle and get together as groups and experience the game and the ballpark in different ways. So very pleased with the way that’s played out and very much looking forward to continuing the improvements this year. I think we have an opening announcement coming up for those in six weeks or so, and it’s going to be very fun.