The big news for the Pirates today is that they’ve extended their manager, Derek Shelton. You can read more about the move here.
I’ll have some thoughts on this in an upcoming column. My quick thought is that I like the move. As someone who only does this for a job, and really doesn’t care about the game of baseball anymore, I wasn’t impacted by the losing in 2020-2022. I would have run this team the same way, and I wouldn’t have cared at all how the fans felt about the necessary rebuild. I’ve explained that necessary rebuild a bit, and I’ll explain it more in the upcoming column.
Essentially, the last three seasons have been treated like extended Spring Training at the MLB level. I wrote before the season that Shelton had been playing a strategy game without necessary pieces. So far, with a better team, the Pirates are off to a great result. The moves made by Shelton during this winning have been solid — not all perfect, but you can see that this season is being treated with more urgency to win.
The biggest thing is the atmosphere in the clubhouse. Even with the losing the last few years, Shelton never really lost the clubhouse. That hasn’t been the case in the past during rebuilds. Now, the clubhouse is clicking. That has to do with the veteran additions, but I imagine those veterans are working for Shelton.
This is the first season I’ve cared about what happens on the field in Pittsburgh with Shelton as the manager, because this is the first year the Pirates have cared to put a real team on the field. Thus far, Shelton got them through the rebuild while maintaining the clubhouse atmosphere. As they exit the rebuild, they instantly have the look and feel of surprise contenders.
That’s deserving of an extension.
We’ll see if the Pirates can extend their winning streak to six in a row.
PIRATES VS REDS
Game Time: 6:35 PM EST
Pirates Starter: Rich Hill (1-2, 5.57)
Reds Starter: Luis Cessa (1-2, 13.50)
Pirates Lineups:
Rich is on the hill.
Reds Lineups:
Game three of four in Pittsburgh.
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— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) April 22, 2023
