NL Central Notes: Pirates, Cherington, Myers, Steer

The Pirates have gotten off to a difficult start in 2025. The club is 8-15 overall, leaving them in last place in the NL Central and six games back of the division-leading Cubs. While the club’s pitching staff is right around league average by measure of ERA and top-six by FIP, an offense that has produced a wRC+ of just 70 to this point in the year. Despite those struggles on offense, general manager Ben Cherington told reporters (including Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) before Friday’s game that external solutions to the lineup are unlikely, though the team is always open to exploring deals.

“It’s April. Most teams are going to rely on the players that are inside the organization,” Cherington said. “We certainly have an eye out and already we have an eye outside the organization. We will keep an eye on things. We keep having conversations, but trades don’t usually happen this soon. We’ve got to rely on the guys that are here….We are going to get healthier. And then over the course of the season if we do what I believe we will do, then they’ll be opportunities to add to it at some point.”

Spencer Horwitz, Nick Gonzales, and Endy Rodriguez are all currently on the injured list, robbing the Bucs of three players expected to operate in starting or regular roles this season. Perhaps their returns will be enough to get Pittsburgh on track, yet the Pirates will also need several of their healthy but struggling regulars to start heating up.

More from around the NL Central…

• The Brewers’ injury-riddled rotation might be getting some help this week with the return of Tobias Myers, who told MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy that he expects to be activated from the 15-day IL to start Thursday’s game. Myers suffered an oblique strain in mid-March that delayed his 2025 debut, but he came out of his third minor league rehab start Friday feeling in good shape, and ready to get back to the Show.It is a testament to Milwaukee’s pitching depth and development that even the makeshift version of its rotation is still posting good numbers, but obviously the Crew will happily welcome back Myers. A surprise emergence himself during his 2024 rookie season, Myers posted a 3.00 ERA over 138 innings for the Brewers last year.
• Spencer Steer was the Reds’ starting first baseman today, marking the first time this season that Steer has played a position other than designated hitter.  Steer’s longstanding right shoulder problems have been an issue since last season, and after the injury resurfaced during Spring Training, the decision was made to keep Steer as a DH (and off the injured list) until he could throw without discomfort. Today’s return to the field is a good sign that things are slowly returning to normal for Steer, though the larger issue is his ice-cold start at the plate — Steer had a .111/.186/.204 slash line in 59 plate appearances heading into today’s game.