Matt Watson Media

Every year professional sports teams will fire a head coach or manager partway through the season when their club is underperforming.

Typically, the teams that pull off these moves are trying to salvage their season and spark some momentum to change the tides. Other times, organizations opt to begin the rebuilding process and get a head start on the future.

No Room for Success

The Pittsburgh Pirates fall in the second category, a team that is going nowhere and once again is looking to rebuild their roster. It has been over a decade since the Buccos have made the postseason, and that streak looks to continue in 2025.

On Thursday, May 8th, the Pirates announced they had parted ways with manager Derek Shelton. The long manager of Pittsburgh was hired before the 2020 season, where he went 306-440 as skipper. His best seasons were in 2022 and 2023, when the Pirates finished consecutive seasons with a 76-86 record.

Shelton was never given the tools to succeed during his time with Pittsburgh. Aside from the club lucking out and having the first overall pick when Paul Skenes headed to Major League Baseball, the Pirates’ best move in recent seasons was bringing back legend Andrew McCutchen.

This past off-season, the club made no moves towards being a competitive team. Pittsburgh signed veterans Andrew Heaney, Tommy Pham, and Adam Frazier to one-year contracts in the hopes of trading them for prospects at the Trade Deadline in July.

Handcuffed by a lack of a budget, Pirates GM Ben Cherington has his hands tied with what options he can proceed with. Not being able to spend money on his team halters any productive building he can craft.

Pittsburgh’s Pirate

The real issue in Pittsburgh is not their manager, their general manager, or their dedicated fanbase. The issue starts with ownership, and owner Bob Nutting is succeeding in his quest to ruin a legendary sports franchise.

Nutting refuses to invest in his team and, despite an engaged fanbase who craves playoff baseball, has no interest in changing his stance.

The organization’s largest free agent contract came in 2015, when the team signed pitcher Francisco Liriano to a 3-year, 39 million dollar contract. It has been over a decade since the Pirates have even come close to matching that offer.

To their credit, Pittsburgh has signed large extensions to Ke’Bryan Hayes (8-years, 70 million dollars) and Bryan Reynolds (8 years, 106.75 million dollars). However, signing 2 players to league-average contracts is nothing to celebrate.

This past season, the franchise cut first baseman Rowdy Tellez late in the season to avoid paying him any contract bonuses that he may receive. This move had nothing to do with the game of baseball and everything to do with saving payroll.

Typically, a pirate is someone who seeks treasure and glory. The Pirates in Pittsburgh have a ship without a captain and without any wind in their sails. Nothing will change for the franchise until ownership decides to either spend or sell.

That decision might be closer than we think, thanks to the explosion of Paul Skenes.

PNC Park. Photo Credit: Joshua Peacock