Mike Sullivan won two Stanley Cups in Pittsburgh over his 10-year career. He’s off to what he believes are greener pastures. It was time.
Mike Tomlin won a Super Bowl early in his tenure in Pittsburgh and got to another but it’s been a while since they’ve even been competitive in a playoff game. Some would argue, it’s time.
Derek Shelton has won next to nothing in his six seasons in Pittsburgh and the team has shown little improvement in that time. It’s fair to argue that the Pirates would not magically just become a good team if Shelton was relieved of his duties, but sometimes it’s just time.
In the case of Shelton specifically, it’s time.
Look, I take no joy in calling for a man’s job. Everyone needs to eat. But there comes a time in sports when you’ve got to consider the consumer and the fan that is paying the salaries of your players and concessions workers and front office workers.
If you polled 100 Pirates fans following the Pirates seventh shutout loss of the season in just 38 games, I don’t know if more than 2 would answer “No” if you asked the question “Should Derek Shelton be fired?”.
The Pirates are not a good team and a lot of that falls on ownership for not shelling out money and the front office for not being better at allocating that money towards good enough players and drafting better. But getting rid of the manager is always the easiest remedy to a team that starts 12-26 on the season.
The players look to have nearly no enthusiasm. The season is slipping away quickly as the Pirates are already 10.5 games out of first in the NL Central. On May 7th. 38 games in.
They’re currently bottom-5 in any major batting statistical category. They’re 3-5 in games Paul Skenes starts despite his 2.77 ERA. They’ve gotten 20 quality starts in 38 games and…again…they’re 12-26.
They’re playing guys out of position on defense. Guys like Matt Gorski and Liover Peguero are getting just one or two starts a week. Henry Davis, despite his warts, isn’t being given much runway to play and try to find some footing. It just doesn’t make sense. Shelton’s bullpen management is less than stellar. It’s all a joke.
Oneil Cruz is about the only player consistently hitting well. Andrew McCutchen is playing well too but he’s 38 years old. They can’t be acting like it’s okay to have him being one of their better hitters. Bryan Reynolds is off to a bad start. So too is just about every other hitter.
Tommy Pham is awful. Spencer Horwitz and Nick Gonzales will return soon and Jared Jones later after that. By then, the Pirates will be lucky to be within 25 games of .500 which is just awful to think about.
Again, if they fired Shelton and appointed Don Kelly, the team is still the team. It won’t change that much other than maybe having a new voice and a small sense of optimism shot into the team and fan base. But they owe it to the fans to do something. This is a move that needs to happen sooner rather than later.
(photo courtesy of MSN)