Can any manager really turn things around?
On Thursday, the Pirates made the earliest managerial change baseball has seen in years, parting ways with Derek Shelton just 38 games into the 2025 season. With the club off to a 12-26 start, bench coach Don Kelly, a Pittsburgh native, will take over as interim manager.
Shelton departs with a 306-440 record (.410 winning percentage) over five-plus seasons, the third-worst mark in MLB during that stretch. His teams never reached the postseason, never finished above fourth in the NL Central, and never topped a .500 record. On paper, the decision might seem overdue. In reality, it’s not that simple.
The Pirates haven’t lost because of managerial shortcomings. They’ve lost because they haven’t had enough talent.
Shelton’s tenure, beginning in 2020, was marked by rebuilding, budget constraints, and limited rosters. His clubs weren’t disappointing; they were simply overmatched. Since 1992, Pittsburgh has reached 80 wins in a season only four times. In that same window, only the Kansas City Royals have lost more games this century. The problem isn’t effort or leadership. It’s structural.
Pittsburgh’s payroll strategy has long been a point of frustration. Since Bob Nutting took full control in 2007, the club has spent $1.2 billion on player salaries, an amount that larger-market teams burn through in just a few years. The last time the Pirates signed a free agent to a multi-year deal? December 2017. That’s nearly two years before Shelton was even hired.
Before the 2025 season, with Paul Skenes entering Year 2 after a dominant Rookie of the Year campaign, the Pirates spent just $19 million in free agency. For context, their revenue last year came in at a healthy $326 million, in the same range as mid-market teams like the Diamondbacks and Twins, who spend significantly more on their rosters.
So, while Shelton’s results were far from inspiring, putting the blame squarely on him is misguided.
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As ESPN’s Jeff Passan put it a while back on the Jomboy Media podcast: “There is zero reason that the Pirates need to operate how they operate. It is a choice. It is a choice that is insulting to fans, to the game, and to players in that clubhouse, who deserve better.”
Ken Rosenthal agreed, on Foul Territory: “The owner is ultimately the biggest problem. They were in classic ‘fire the manager’ territory. They’re 12-26, there seems to be a malaise about them. Is it his fault? It’s absolutely not his fault. This problem that they have goes so much deeper… to the general manager and the owner, who continually provides limited resources.”
Shelton may not have been the long-term answer, but he certainly wasn’t the root of the Pirates’ struggles. The roster construction, limited spending, and overall organizational philosophy played far bigger roles in the team’s repeated underperformance.
Now, Pittsburgh hands the reins to Don Kelly. But until there’s a meaningful shift in how the club builds, and invests in, its future, it’s fair to wonder how much any managerial change will actually move the needle.
For now, the one bright spot remains Paul Skenes. He’s a reason to watch. But even he can’t carry a franchise on his own.
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