Firing manager Derek Shelton will not save the Pirates
The lowly Pirates have a new captain.
On Thursday, the Pittsburgh Pirates announced that manager Derek Shelton has been relieved of his duties. Bench coach Don Kelly, a Pittsburgh native who has been with the club since 2020, will take over as manager. It is the earliest in an MLB season that a manager has gotten fired since 2018, when Cincinnati canned Bryan Price on April 19 after his club started 3-15.
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Predictably, the Pirates' news release contained enough word soup from GM Ben Cherington and owner Bob Nutting to feed a small village.
Hired in November 2019, Shelton leaves the Steel City with a 306-440 record. Pittsburgh's .410 winning percentage over that span ranks third-worst in MLB, better only than Washington and Colorado. After an ugly, 19-win showing in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Shelton's Pirates posted win totals of 61, 62, 76 and 76. The 2025 club sits at 12-26 entering play Thursday, tracking toward a 51-win campaign despite the continued brilliance of sophomore ace Paul Skenes, widely considered the best young hurler in baseball.
Shelton's tenure was defined by losing, ownership's constant unwillingness to spend on payroll, losing, the arrival of Skenes and more losing. In fact, Shelton's .410 winning percentage is the third-lowest among managers to serve at least five years in the Integration Era. His Pirates never made the playoffs, never finished higher than fourth in the NL Central and never came particularly close to finishing over .500.
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But to pin all the woe on Shelton is unfair.
He is merely the fall guy, the scapegoat, the sacrificial lamb of an organization poisoned by decades of institutional rot. The Pirates have won 80 games in a season just four times since 1992. Only the Kansas City Royals have compiled more losses in the 21st century. Owner Bob Nutting has not inked a free agent to a multi-year contract since December 2017, nearly two years before he hired Shelton and Cherington.
So while Shelton might not have been the magic solution for the Pirates, he certainly wasn't the problem.
Here's the actual problem: The 2025 Pirates don't have enough good baseball players. The same was true for every other season of the Shelton era. His clubs never underperformed or disappointed or capitulated in embarrassing fashion. They were simply undermanned.
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And it all starts at the top, with ownership. More specifically, the issues are rooted in Nutting's tolerance of mediocrity. He is happy to carry a small payroll, build bad ball clubs, under-invest in all corners of the organization and turn a profit. And Pirates fans, like their team, lose.
Perhaps Kelly, the new man in charge, can inject a refreshing, invigorating perspective into the current club. Perhaps not. But it doesn't really matter because there is nothing he can say or do to turn this calamity of an organization into a real winner. Cherington, who is under contract through next season, has failed to build a contender but remains hamstrung by his bosses. Nothing will change until ownership does.
For now, though, Derek Shelton can live peacefully, knowing that Moses himself couldn't have shepherded his desolate Pirates rosters to playoff glory.
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