Pittsburgh Pirates General Manager Ben Cherington announced prior to Saturday night’s game against the Cincinnati Reds that manager Derek Shelton has received a contract extension beyond the 2023 season. No other details of deal have been announced at this time.
Shelton has the Pirates off to a quick start this season. They hold a 14-7 record going into Saturday night. This is his fourth season with the team. He was on the final season of his contact until the extension.
Shelton took over during the shortened 2020 season, leading the Pirates to a 19-41 record in his first year. He improved his winning percentage each of the last two seasons, though the Pirates did poorly each year. He finished 61-101 in 2021, then improved by just one game during the 2022 season.
It was noted by Cherington that the extension talks began during Spring Training this year.
Pirates mgr Derek Shelton, 52, was in final year of his contract. GM Cherington said extension talks began during spring training.
— RobBiertempfel (@RobBiertempfel) April 22, 2023
If more details of the deal are announced today, we will provide an update here.
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
I’m happy for Shelton
He reminds me of Kevin Cash with the Rays
Speaking of the Rays, they have hit 45 HRs and given up only 9 HRs this season
I’ve never been a supporter of Derek Shelton but given the current circumstances an extension appears to me to be the appropriate and perhaps only sensible thing to do. If a change is going to be made, it needs to happen during the off season so the entire team can come together and prepare for the change, but keeping Shelton as a lame-duck for the season would be awkward at best and make it very difficult for him and for the players especially if the team keeps playing well.
Extending Shelton now sends a positive message to the players and can’t help but increase the good vibes that by all accounts are now present in the clubhouse. I believe Shelton deserves the chance to prove his ability to continue to build this team (or inability to do so) and that this extension gives him and the team the best chance to do that. I hope this extension is for only one year and will be inexpensive enough to allow for reevaluation of his status once the season is over but for now I’d like to give the Shelton and the team the opportunity to keep on winning and prove me and nearly everyone else wrong.
A bit premature, eh?
Shelton’s a shitty manager.
Derek Shelton has unequivocally been one of the worst in game managers in baseball the last few years. It’s been extremely obvious. So they extend him. SMH. This really lowers my hope for the next few years.
He does seem to be able to get players to buy into whatever he’s selling. And that’s probably more important than it was 10, 20 years ago. Hopefully Don Kelly makes him a better in-game manager.
Don Kelly was my hope to become the Manager of the Pirates sometime this year.
The Pirates are playing well in the first 22 games of 2023, and our GM did not waste any time taking full advantage to extend “his” guy, as the Manager. Is Shelton a better Manager in 2023 than he was in the 384 games of sub-.400 winning prior to 2023? I doubt it.
BC gave a huge assist to Shelton by spending about $32 mil on FA players for 2023 like Hill, ‘Cutch, Santana, Hedges, Choi, VV, Garcia, Joe, etc. Will this type of spending continue either in the form of extensions to current players or signings of new FA’s? Getting a few guys extended this year starting with Reynolds would be a positive sign.
Nickles giving Shelton an extension before getting Reynolds signed to an extension is bad management. If by implication that’s suggesting that Shelton could be with the Pirates longer than Reynolds, that’s just stupid.
This’ll any chance this extension is announced in April if the Pirates are 7-14 instead of 14-7?
When I see headline “PIRATES EXTEND” I want the last name to be REYNOLDS
I can’t complain about it…. Last several years consisted of dumpster fire rosters and a mandate — whether implicit or explicit or somewhere in the gray neverworld between — to ‘not really try’®️
So I don’t really know that he’s deserving of an extension, but I also don’t have any reason in particular to adamantly believe he’s not. Besides, lots of managers were idiots, before being geniuses, before being idiots again (and vice versa). A lot comes down to landing in the right situation, time, and place, and then just not screwing it up.
Who knows, maybe we got the next (good version) CH without someone else having to can him first.
In my opinion the in game manager isn’t all that significant. I doubt a manager even swings his team’s record two wins one way or the other.
Check Tanner once said, a manager will win or lose you maybe 5-7 games a year.
Can’t pass judgment without knowing how long the extension is. Seems unnecessary to do this in april vs say All Star Break (further body of record ) – doubt there’s a red hot Shelton market out there -but tough to be really fired up against this given how team is (currently) playing
The extension is to the all star break ….
The way Mackey was reporting this was all but done back in print training. Players seem to love playing for him and even when the talent really wasn’t there, the players still never quit on him. I can’t really complain at this point.
fart
I don’t mind the extension. If the team turns into a pumpkin and he starts making shitty decisions consistently they can always can him. I’ve been pretty mum on my thoughts on Shelton so far considering the absolute dumpster fire of a roster he’s had until this year. The pen issues seem to be less this year, I don’t think I’ve hated a lineup yet, and the team is rolling. Maybe Shelty is a great manager when he’s got the talent to play with. I think it’s worth finding out.
I think we can all agree having a revolving door for the Mananger’s position is a formula for disaster.
Seems like the players are play hard for him and playing smart for the most part, too.
I guess I’m a fan of this move.
A major league team would want to see the manager guide the team to something better than a .383 W/L%. But the Pirates have their own unique definition of succe$$.
Realistically, if the team continues to hang anywhere near .500, an extension is inevitable. But this seems way premature.
Well with Stevenson, Holderman and Bednar probably not available for tonight he’ll have a chance to show his managerial stuff especially if Hill get’s knocked off the hill early.
I’m surprised some super-clever baseball mathy type hasn’t come up with a WAR measurement for managers. You’d have to track in-game decisions and consider which ones worked out and which ones didn’t or something.
That’s a good point and I also am surprised that they have stats for what shifts save you but none for what they cost you. The only real value I’ve seen is the shift robbing hits when the bases are empty. I’ve seen too many runs scored and extra bases given away with Shelton’s shifts with traffic on the bases. If Santana would have been stationed where a first baseman is with runners on first and second the Reds probably wouldn’t have scored any runs off Keller in the fifth inning.
I’m sure WM is overjoyed with this news. Over-flipping-joyed!!!
And I am right there with him.
Shocking!!!
Ohhh….you said WM. I thought you meant Waste Management. 😂😂
A mistake!🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
I am upset that they only allow one ‘like’ per post!
Amusing, given the animus that Shelton generates from some posters here!
What I find so Pirate-y about the announcement is that the length of the extension wasn’t revealed, because, of course.
All the transparency of a Pens injury list!
“above the neck” injury?