Perrotto: Derek Shelton Needs to Make Changes in 2025

Derek Shelton apparently will return for a sixth season as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ manager in 2025.

That news isn’t good for the fans who boo Shelton whenever he is introduced before games at PNC Park. Nor will it make the talk-show callers who blame Shelton for all the Pirates’ woes happy.

Whether Shelton should return for another season is open for debate.

It is hard to judge him on his 288-404 career record. Shelton has been handed some awful rosters by general manager Ben Cherington. On the other hand, Shelton’s .415 winning percentage is awful.

Only one manager in franchise history has managed more games than Shelton’s 692 and had a worse winning percentage. That is Billy Meyer, who was 317-452 (.412) in a five-season span from 1948-52 yet had his No. 1 retired by the Pirates because he was so beloved.

Few major-league managers survive that much losing for that long and it would be difficult to criticize Cherington for moving on from Shelton.

However, Cherington insisted Wednesday that he feels Shelton is still the right man for the job when he met with the media before the Pirates beat the Miami Marlins 3-1 at PNC Park to complete a three-game sweep.

“I think there’s a lot to the job I believe he does really, really well and I also believe he works his tail off to continue to improve in a number of ways,” Cherington said.

Shelton believes he deserves another year even though the Pirates collapsed after being 2.5 games out of the final National League playoff spot at the beginning of August.

A 10-game losing streak from Aug. 4-14 extinguished those postseason hopes. The Pirates need to go 12-4 over their final 16 games to have a winning record for the first time since 2017 and the fifth time since 1993.

The Pirates must also finish 7-9 to exceed last season’s 76-86 record. That would technically represent an improvement, something owner Bob Nutting wanted to see when the season started.

“We’re in a definite, much better spot than we have in the last two years with our starting pitching,” Shelton said. “We’re deeper than we have been. We need to continue to build some things offensively and continue to grow that depth.”

Presumably, Cherington will be the man who tries to build a roster that is more productive and provides more options for 2025. Presumably is the key word because neither Nutting nor team president Travis Williams has addressed whether Cherington will be retained after this season.

Most people in the industry believe Cherington will get at least one more year. He stepped into a difficult situation after the 2019 season and has overseen a complete overhaul of the organization.

Many baseball people say privately that it takes seven years for a rebuild to take hold. Not many executives will say that publicly, though, for fear of turning off the fans.

If the Pirates decide to move on from Cherington, the GM’s support of his manager on Wednesday becomes moot. A new GM would want to bring in his manager.

But assuming Shelton stays, the manager needs to make changes in 2025.

Shelton must revamp his coaching staff because too many players have stagnated or regressed this year.

Shelton must run a tighter ship, be more disciplinarian, and not as player-friendly. The Pirates’ attention to detail is lacking and there is little accountability when things go wrong.

If Shelton doesn’t make those changes, it is difficult to see the Pirates winning more games in 2025. In turn, Shelton likely wouldn’t make it to 2026.