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Pirates general manager Ben Cherington spoke with reporters, including MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, this week at the GM Meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz. Here are the things that stood out to me from his comments about the state of the Bucs and the team’s offseason priorities.

Starting the search for starters

Cherington’s session began with a question about a potential fit between the Pirates and Joey Votto, whom the Reds declined to bring back in 2024. However, while stating his admiration for Votto and the team’s willingness to explore all avenues, the Pirates’ GM made it clear what the main emphasis is right now.

“We’re focused on starting pitching, focused on that both in free agency and trade,” Cherington said. “We’d like to add to our position player group, probably. More of our energy has gone to the pitching market early.”

Cherington said something that makes me think the Pirates will be aggressive on this front: He wants to give some of the young starting candidates -- think names like Quinn Priester, Luis L. Ortiz, Roansy Contreras and others as possibilities -- more time to develop rather than give them the bulk of the reps out of the gate in the new season.

“We think that there’s an exciting group of young starting pitching that can form the nucleus of a really good rotation,” Cherington said. “And not all of them are proven. Some of them are still growing. Some of them might even need more time in the Minor Leagues to start 2024. So we definitely want to add to the rotation if we can.”

First base is an external interest

Yes, Cherington sidestepped Votto at the outset to talk about pitching, but he confirmed quickly thereafter that the Pirates are actively checking out the first-base market. Along with Votto, some of the biggest names of the free-agent group are Rhys Hoskins, Brandon Belt and former Pirate Carlos Santana, who said he’d embrace a return to Pittsburgh upon being traded to the Brewers this past season.

“I think we’re interested in adding at that position,” Cherington said. “We’re looking at a broad range of options really. We need to score more runs. We need to keep scoring more runs.

“First base would be one potential area to add some offense. So if we could do that in a way that fits with the rest of the things we want to do for the team, then yes, we’d like to do that.”

Second base is for the field

Meanwhile, the Pirates have a handful of young players who can take on second base. Ji Hwan Bae, Nick Gonzales, Liover Peguero and Jared Triolo all saw time there last season, though only Triolo really began to show a sustained run of success on offense. So is this an area for an upgrade or for a healthy contest to determine an in-house starter?

“If there’s a fit out there that we really think can help our offense and they happen to play second base, we’re open to that,” Cherington said. “But we also feel good about the internal candidates, and it could be that we trust the field and let the competition play out.”

My sense from this: If the Bucs add here, expect a versatile addition who can plug and play, not a second baseman only.

Keeping up with Cutch

Cherington reaffirmed that the club continues to have interest in Pirates fan favorite Andrew McCutchen, who posted a .776 OPS in 112 games last season while falling one homer shy of 300 career home runs due to a left Achilles injury. He said McCutchen’s recovery is going well and the prognosis is good.

“We’ll keep that dialogue open,” Cherington said. “I think we have a shared interest in seeing if we can work something out, so hopefully we can do that.”

Oneil on the mend

Oneil Cruz is in Bradenton, Fla., right now, and he’s been doing all baseball activities, per Cherington. Cruz is being assessed day by day as he nears a return to game action after missing much of the season with a fractured left fibula, though Cherington said that may be at the Pirates’ complex in Bradenton or their academy in the Dominican Republic if they feel that winter ball is not in the best interest of Cruz and the team’s assessments.

“All of the updates we’ve gotten over the past couple of weeks have been really encouraging and positive,” Cherington said. “ … He’s gotten into some basic simulated types of situations, just like instructional league, simulated type of environment. He’s feeling good physically.”