Among the dwindling number of fans still emotionally invested in the Pirates, there’s growing demand to fire general manager Ben Cherington and manager Derek Shelton.
Frankly, those calls are valid. The two deserve to be let go. But replacing them won’t solve anything. Whoever takes their place will just be another low-cost, underqualified hire.
Firing them would just be a temporary distraction to calm frustrated fans—while ownership continues to profit without prioritizing winning.
Their record of failure is almost impressive:
The Pirates were 12-24 going into Tuesday, their worst start since 2006, with five straight losses and eight losses in their last nine games.
PNC Park, once a highlight of the franchise, now feels somber and unwelcoming.
The team leads MLB in being shut out (six times) and grounding into double plays (36).
The Clemente logo and Bucco bricks controversies happened under their leadership, even if they weren’t directly responsible.
Player development is failing: 2021 top pick Henry Davis hasn’t delivered, and now even top prospect Paul Skenes seems to be regressing.
The team regularly commits embarrassing mistakes: wild pitches, bad baserunning, poor throws. It’s routine.
Their six-year tenure has been marked by constant blunders. As the character Dalton said in Road House, “It’s amazing what you can get used to.” (Then again, he also took violent action—maybe he should run the Pirates.)
Local media should stop treating the Pirates as a serious baseball team and instead report on them as a public disaster—like a nuclear meltdown or an unwinnable war.
Every franchise has its own way of managing leadership changes. For example, if the Steelers end up with Mason Rudolph instead of Aaron Rodgers, someone should be fired—but probably won’t be. The Penguins may have finally moved on from coach Mike Sullivan a bit too late, but GM Kyle Dubas deserves patience—unless he hires a crony from back home.
With the Pirates, it always comes down to money.
Nobody knows the exact terms of Cherington and Shelton’s contracts, but owner Bob Nutting is notoriously unwilling to spend—especially on people not working for him. If their deals are up after this season, they might be dismissed soon just to pacify fans.
Under their leadership, the Pirates have gone 306-438, a .411 win percentage. That kind of record would normally get someone fired long ago.
But firing them won’t fix anything.
The core issue is ownership. Nutting doesn’t invest in the team or prioritize winning. Every other failure stems from that.
There was talk that the Pirates could have hired Terry Francona this offseason if they had fired Shelton, but that’s laughable. Why would one of the greatest managers of his generation come out of retirement to work for one of the league’s worst-run teams?
Still, the team’s PR machine is hyping up the next big prospect.
Hunter Barco just moved up to Triple-A. Bubba Chandler is also generating buzz.
But even though Skenes—better than either—is already in the majors, the Pirates still aren’t winning.
It all seems puzzling.
Except it’s not.
