Pirates cutting retirement benefits for baseball operations staff during pandemic

The Pittsburgh Pirates are among the MLB franchises that have been forced to make drastic cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The team announced that they have suspended retirement benefits for members of their baseball operations staff as a way to save money during these tough times.

General Manager Ben Cherington explained the reasoning behind the decision.

“We did identify the retirement contributions at least temporarily an area where we might find some savings without too much impact on people, in terms of their every day lives,” said Cherington.

“Our full expectation is that the contribution will go back into effect as soon as possible.”

This news comes a week after they publicly released a statement that they will continue paying their employee through the month of May.