The Pittsburgh Pirates have reportedly added Steve Sanders to their front office, per Jeff Passan. Sanders was previously the scouting director for the Toronto Blue Jays, where he worked with new Pirates’ GM Ben Cherington to rebuild the farm system.
The Pirates are hiring from the top down, so you’d expect this move to be a bigger role than scouting director. If he was working with Cherington on rebuilding the farm system in Toronto, then it would make sense for him to be overseeing the farm system in Pittsburgh in some form or another, working with Cherington again.
Here is a profile on Sanders from The Athletic.
The article above notes that the Blue Jays went from 24th to 6th in the Baseball America rankings after Sanders took over as the director of amateur scouting. He has overseen drafts that took Nate Pearson (ranked 15th in BA’s top 100) and Jordan Groshans (42nd) among other talented prospects who elevated the system rankings.
The Pirates need to elevate their farm system rankings once again, and it will be good to see a guy with a good recent track record joining the mix and likely playing a big role in the system going forward.
UPDATE 5:32 PM: Jason Mackey says that Sanders will be an assistant general manager with the Pirates.
Steve Sanders, formerly the Toronto Blue Jays' director of amateur scouting, is joining the Pirates as an assistant general manager under Ben Cherington, per sources. @JeffPassan first.
— Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) December 2, 2019
