There was a buzz this winter in the Pirates' players' group chats, as the front office's decision to add to the group more aggressively was greatly appreciated by the players and made "win" and "winning" the focus of many of their conversations.
The same thing was happening in the coaches' group chats, with plenty of those messages coming from hitting coach Andy Haines.
“Early in the offseason, it became very apparent of what the strategy was with Ben [Cherington] and his guys," Haines told me over the phone.