4-21-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
The Pirates are off to their worst start since 2020, when they started 6-17 en route to the worst record in MLB. While they don’t technically have the worst record in baseball currently, beginning a season 8-15 when you are in year 6 of a rebuild isn’t going to endear fans to the organization – and certainly not to the boys at the top of the food chain.
While the “Sell The Team” chants during home games are clearly targeted at one specific individual, perhaps pivoting to target another should be the method for igniting this team moving forward.
I wrote over Spring Training about how Manager Derek Shelton was on the hot seat heading into this season, already holding the 2nd worst managerial winning percentage in franchise history (minimum five seasons) behind just Billy Meyer – and Meyer at least had one winning season in that putrid 5-year stretch.
In fact, only nine active managers have been in their current roles longer than Derek Shelton – 6 of whom led their teams to pennant-winning seasons, 2 more have claimed division titles and the other one, inexplicably, is the Colorado Rockies.
I get that Shelton hasn’t always had the best options to play on the field but when given options to put the team in the best position to win, more often than not, Shelty has flopped.
And I’m not talking lineup construction – though that could probably be a whole other article – but the amount of times he went to David Bednar or Colin Holderman with the game on the line when they repeatedly showed that they didn’t have it, or how he will play a recently called up prospect so intermittently that they have no chance to get into a groove and find any level of success while veterans continue to struggle and show that they are who we all know they are.
Yes, Ben Cherington signed Tommy Pham and Adam Frazier and yes, neither of them are proving anything offensively – but just because these pieces are in Shelton’s arguably awful toolbox doesn’t mean those are the ones he has to use.
This team is going to rise or fall with the players who are here and have been here: Bryan Reynolds, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Oneil Cruz, Skenes, Keller, Jones – these are some of the guys in place but Shelton fails to optimize the opportunities presented with these players time and time again.
His seat is no longer warm; it’s on fire!
The common refrain is “What good does it do to fire a manager now?” Plenty of managers are canned during the offseason or, at the very least, much later on in the year.
This past offseason, the Reds canned David Bell and the Marlins moved on from Skip Schumaker. The previous offseason saw five organizations obtain new skippers.
There are only two active managers who took over their teams during the MLB season: Brian Snitker of the Braves (2016) and Rob Thomson of the Phillies (2022).
Let’s start with Snitker: While he didn’t post a winning record after taking over for Fredi Gonzalez, who led the Braves to a 9-28 start, he helmed a solid ship with a 59-65 record the rest of the way. The team was comprised of Freddie Freeman and not much else and Snitker managed to get much more out of them than he probably should have, earning a chance at managing the team beyond that season and into eventual World Series glory.
By contrast, Thomson took over for Joe Girardi in Philadelphia – a team which expected to contend heading into the 2022 campaign after an 82-80 season the year prior but who failed to get much traction early, losing 4 of their first 5 series and 7 of the first nine.
After stumbling to a sub-optimal 22-29 record – which included a stretch where they lost 12 of 15 games – Phily’s brass decided to cut bait on Girardi and let the then-Bench Coach Thomson take over. The Phillies surged after that, winning 14 of their next 16 games and eventually claiming the NL pennant.
Sure, there are plenty of instances where a skipper gets canned and nothing improves. There are, possibly, times where a new manager leads the team to an even worse record than their predecessor.
But here’s the thing, what do we have to lose at this point when we know what Shelton brings to the table is five losing seasons and is barreling towards a sixth?
He’s potentially alienating Skenes. He’s almost definitely alienating Cutch. The clubhouse is fracturing as the losses pile up so how much more do we need to see here?
Make the change. Play the kids. Stay aggressive on the bases and act like you want to be here and want to win games. Maybe there will still be fans roaring to sell the team but if the team is playing better and winning games, odds are the roar of the crowd will be a lot more positive and a lot more plentiful going forward.
Steel City Pirates 