Fair or not, much of the dialogue around the Pirates, especially during the offseason, is always going to center around how much money is being spent on payroll.
There is hardly an expectation for the Pirates to be near the top of the league in spending, but for a rebuilding club, there are clear areas where more investment could help in the short term, long term or both. The Pirates are beginning of the process of mapping out who their offseason targets could be, which will influence the 2023 payroll.
But during his end of season media availability Friday, Ben Cherington made clear that he'd rather have the focus on the former.