Ben Cherington has been the Pirates’ general manager for two years now. He has done more than his fair share of wheeling and dealing in that time, basically stripping the team down to the bone while gaining some good prospects. However, sooner or later he’s going to have to stop messing around for a bit and let guys show what they can do. Also, a team needs a bit of veteran presence to steady the kids, and that job shouldn’t fall on just the manager and coaches.
This brings us to Kevin Newman.
Like a large number of current Bucs, he was a high draft pick—first round, nineteenth overall in 2015.