Derek Shelton Is Here To Stay – Despite How Badly You Want Him Gone

10-3-24 – By Ethan Smith – @mvp_EtHaN

It is Thursday, October 3rd, which means we are, checks notes, four days removed from the final out of the 2024 season for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In that time, we as fans have seen the club fire hitting coach Andy Haines, bullpen coach Justin Meccage and strength and conditioning coach Adam Vish, and in all likelihood, that is about all the changes the team will make with the coaching staff after Ben Cherington once again endorsed manager Derek Shelton at a press conference on Wednesday.

Ben Cherrington recommended to ownership to keep Shelton. He said they have to be accountable together going into 2025 @KDKA pic.twitter.com/KlWPbFrR1N

— Rich Walsh KDKA (@RichieWalsh) October 2, 2024

Cherington went as far as recommending to ownership that Shelton – who has a 292-414 record in five seasons helming this club – should be the manager of the Pirates in 2025, which will follow a 2024 season that saw the club post the exact same record as 2023 at 76-86.

Now, this means only one thing as it pertains to the present, and that is that Derek Shelton is going nowhere and will, barring anything catastrophic in the coming months, be the manager when the Pirates head to spring training in late February.

Shelton’s track record does him no favors in getting a public endorsement from the general manager and well, ownership, seeing as he not only has the abysmal record mentioned before, but back-to-back seasons with a double-digit losing streak that effectively removed the Pirates from any hopes of playoff contention over the past two years.

What will sting more from all parts of the organization is just how much better the roster was in 2024 than in the previous year, adding rookie phenom Paul Skenes, Jared Jones and Joey Bart to the mix, who each posted a bWAR of 1.8 or higher.

Even further, the Pirates got more out of Bailey Falter, Luis Ortiz and Nick Gonzales, as well as a full, productive season from Oneil Cruz and contributions from unlikely faces such as Dennis Santana. When assessing steps forward, you have to mention the steps backwards as well, such as the falling off by both Henry Davis and Jack Suwinski and the uncertainty that surrounds Ke’Bryan Hayes moving forward.

As this all pertains to Shelton and the lack of success in 2024, and keeping with the WAR narrative, in 2023, the Pirates had no player have a WAR higher than 4.0, in 2024, they added Skenes, who posted a 5.9 bWAR in his historic rookie season.

Baseball is a business dictated by results, as is any sport, and so far, we haven’t seen the results translate to what would lead to what would be defined as “success.” In 2023, 76-86 was more than fair, seeing as the Pirates were accumulating talent and finally taking the next step in their rebuild, despite missing Oneil Cruz for an entire season.

This year? 76-86, in a year in which playoffs were the expected goal, is not good enough, plain and simple, and all eyes, rightfully so, should look towards the manager.

Seattle, a team which finished 85-77 and missed the postseason by one game, fired manager Scott Servais before the season because they were unhappy after blowing a 10-game division lead to the Houston Astros. Servais was with Seattle since 2016 and posted a 680-642 record with a single postseason appearance over his tenure there.

Another example comes from our very own division, as the Cincinnati Reds decided to fire manager David Bell as the season came to a close. Bell, who had been with the Reds since 2019 posted a 409-456 record and made one postseason appearances in the truncated COVID-19 season.

At this point, it is becoming an accountability issue for the Pirates front office and management. By no means do I want to see someone lose their employment in any facet of life, but in a results led business, you have to hold the correct employees in this case accountable for why those results are not getting better, and for now, the Pirates have not only failed to do so, but they are endorsing one of the main factors for why that next step hasn’t taken place.

Seattle and Cincinnati had no issues moving on, and by no means does that suddenly mean the Mariners and Reds will be in the postseason in 2025 with one swift move of changing the manager, and the same could be the case here as well, as Shelton could have his strongest season here and everything I am typing would eventually mean nothing, but from what is in front of all of you, and well the team, by no means should a manager with a record such as Shelton’s be publicly endorsed by the club.

Shelton isn’t going anywhere, for now, and we’ll have to stand pat on pulling out the pitchforks and torches for his job until 2025, a year that is no doubt a make or break for not only him, but likely the man who once again endorsed him today in Ben Cherington.

Everything will play out naturally here between Shelton and the team. The results haven’t been good enough, and if that continues in 2025, a decision will be made, the looming question, which has been the looming question since this discourse began, would be if that decision came too late, and truthfully, the decision to fire a manager hardy ever comes with perfect timing.

Nevertheless, the remainder of the offseason has plenty to offer for the Pirates, but deciding on a new manager does not appear to be one of those decisions that will have to be made.