The Pirates are making some changes to their front office, per a report from . Stumpf notes that director of coaching and player development John Baker is moving into a new role with the club that will see him oversee the clubs performance team. While the move has not been announced by the club to this point, Stumpf adds that the search for a new farm director is already underway as Baker vacates the position. A former player who spent parts of seven seasons in the big leagues, Baker retired from his playing career in 2015 and caught on with the Cubs in their front office that offseason as a special a sistant. Baker eventually stepped into the role of mental skills coordinator with Chicago and remained in that role with the club until he departed for Pittsburgh during the 2020-21 offseason to take on his aforementioned role as director of coaching and player development. As Stumpf notes, the Pirates began implementing more individualized development plans for their players under Bakers leadership. With Baker now changing roles, the Pirates will need to fill both the farm director role. As Stumpf notes, thats not the only Jarrett Allen Jersey high-level role thats as of yet unfilled in Pittsburgh as the club will also need to hire a new director of pro scouting after moving him to a different, unspecified role within baseball operations. Those yet-to-be-named farm and pro scouting directors will join a wave of personnel hires by the Pirates this winter that already includes international scouting director Max Kwan, VP of research and development Kevin Tenenbaum, hitting coach , and a sistant pitching coach Brent Strom. More notes from around the NL Central Cubs fans received some good news yesterday when reported that right-hander has been cleared for a normal throwing program this offseason. The 25-year-old was acquired by the club at the 2022 trade deadline in the deal that sent right-hander to Philadelphia but didnt make his big league debut until this year. The youngster looked quite good for the Cubs early in the season with a 3.58 ERA and 3.11 FIP in 55 1/3 innings of work while swinging between the rotation and bullpen. He struck out 28.8% of opponents faced against a walk rate of 8.6% but saw is time in the majors cut short by a stre s reaction in his neck that sidelined him for the remainder of the season. Chicago reportedly plans to add a starting pitcher to the rotation alongside , , and this winter, which could leave Brown to either compete with and for the fifth spot in the rotation this spring or else spend the year in the bullpen. The Cardinals are hiring Matt Pierpont as their director of pitching, as Pierpoint himself noted on X ( ). Pierpont, 33, pitched in the minor leagues for seven seasons before catching on with the Mariners as a coach prior to the 2021 season. Since then, hes risen within the organization to the role of pitching coordinator. Now, hes been promoted again as he moves on to St. Louis, where hell be tasked with working to improve the clubs internal pitching options. and are among the young pitchers at or near the major leagues, while top prospect dominated the Double-A level and could also look to make his big league debut at some point in 2025. Jeff Green Jersey