If the Pirates Move On from Derek Shelton, Who Might Be a Candidate?

9-2-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

Derek Shelton’s seat is mighty warm, as it should be, and who he’s replaced with is hardly as front and center as deciding to move on in the first place.

So, I thought, lets have some fun and before we see new candidates enter the pool after the end of the season sends waves of pink slips around the league. Let’s look at some guys who might be a good fit in a way too early look at the scene.

1. Terry Francona

Currently: Retired

Yeah, yeah, local connection, but he has a track record for success. Make no mistake, Terry is baseball royalty. He’s managed 3 teams, won 2 World Series Titles, 3 Time AL Manager of the year with a career record of 1,950–1,672.

Terry has experience with small market baseball and his teams always were greater than the sum of their parts, but he retired for medical reasons. There are rumors he might be interested in jumping back in like Bruce Bochy did in Texas, but I’d imagine he’d really have to believe in the direction.

This would be a big get, one that the baseball world would notice. One that I’d have to imagine would have instant clubhouse impact too.

2. David Ross

Currently: Unemployed

The Cubs kinda did David dirty. There was a clamoring to move on in Chicago after Ross had produced a 262–284 in his 4 seasons as Cubs Skipper, and the ownership group voiced support for retaining him for 2024.

Abruptly, they changed course in November, instead hiring Craig Counsell leaving Ross out in the wind. He turned down a few bench coach roles, including with the Yankees but remains a free agent.

You could argue he didn’t do enough with those Cubs teams, but they were retooling and moving on from many of the stars who won them the series in 2016.

No matter how you feel, Ross is a name that will be out there.

3. Gabe Kapler

Currently: Miami Marlins Assistant General Manager

After 6 seasons coaching the Phillies and Giants amassing a 456–411 record along with NL Manager of the year in 2021 the Giants moved on from Kapler and he went back to his roots, in an MLB club’s front office.

After his playing days and some TV work he became the LA Dodgers Director of Player Development.

His development background as well as understanding of MLB front offices would probably make him a threat in an organization that tends to want separation of powers and value it more than communication and collaborative work.

That said, Kapler is an expert at understanding and implementing analytics into the game and he’s won games without a huge payroll.

Now, does he want to dip his toe back into coaching or keep trying to help resurrect the Marlins?

4. Rodney Linares

Currently: Bench Coach Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays hired Rodney the Dominican-American product who got his coaching start in Houston’s system back in 2018 to be their 3rd base coach, then in 2022 he was promoted to Bench Coach to replace Matt Quatraro who moved on to manage the Kansas City Royals.

Linares also managed the Dominican Team at the 2023 World Baseball Classic along with a host of teams in the Arizona Fall League and the Dominican Winter League.

I’m not sure a guy with no Managerial experience at the MLB level is what the Pirates should target, but Linares is going to be on the short list around the league especially after the success Quatraro has experienced in KC.

The Pirates seem to always be trying to imitate the Rays, why not take advantage of some of their coaching culture.