Perrotto: Don’t Immediately Write Off Don Kelly

PITTSBURGH — Granted, the optics are bad.

The Pittsburgh Pirates fired manager Derek Shelton on Thursday. The move had to be made with the Pirates’ record at 12-26 following a seven-game losing streak.

Shelton is a good man and was a loyal soldier for more than five seasons on the job, but something had to give. Regardless of what general manager Ben Cherington said in the press conference following the announcement, it seemed to me that some players had tuned Shelton out and checked out.

Now to the optics part.

The Pirates promoted bench coach Don Kelly to manager. On the surface, that is a head-scratching move. It seems to make no sense to promote from within.

Interestingly, Kelly is not being tagged as the “interim” manager. It’s his job until at least the end of the season.

So why would Cherington give the job to Kelly? And how will the Pirates sell this move to a fan base that can’t be any more frustrated?

“There’s a lot of reasons,” Cherington said. “Start with who he is as a person. This is someone who cares way more about the Pirates, the city, the people in that clubhouse than he does himself. He’s just an elite human being and teammate. He comes to the ballpark every day focused on only one thing — how to help this team get better. It’s truly not about him because it never has been. He does it for only one reason — to help the Pirates because he believes in the Pirates and wants to deliver for Pittsburgh.”

That is all true.

Kelly, 45, grew up as a Pirates’ fan in Mount Lebanon and helped the Blue Devils win a state championship during his senior year of high school. He stayed home and played collegiately at Point Park, where he was an NAIA All-American.

Though drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the eighth round in 2001, Kelly made his major-league debut with a 25-game stint with the Pirates. Even Kelly’s personal life is intertwined with the Pirates. He is married to the sister of former second baseman and current broadcaster Neil Walker.

Kelly returned to the Tigers and spent most of his nine-year career as a utility player in Detroit, where he became a favorite of manager Jim Leyland. Of course, Leyland is the last Pirates manager to win a division title in 1992.

Being a hometown guy doesn’t necessarily mean that Kelly will be a successful manager.

However, the last Western Pennsylvanian to manage the Pirates was New Castle’s Chuck Tanner. He is also the last Pirates manager to win a World Series.

That isn’t to say that Kelly is going to miraculously lead a bad Pirates team to the Fall Classic.

However, Kelly is as good a baseball man as I have met in 38 years of covering Major League Baseball. He knows the game inside and out, connects with everyone because of his warm personality, and has the respect of people inside baseball.

Kelly’s hiring might not excite fans as much as if Cherington had gone outside the organization and hired a manager with name recognition like Buck Showalter, Joe Maddon, David Ross or Albert Pujols.

It is doubtful that owner Bob Nutting would spend the money necessary to hire someone of that stature. It is just as doubtful that those guys would want to come to an organization that has had 28 losing seasons in the last 32 years.

Kelly knows exactly what he is getting into after spending five-plus seasons as the bench coach. He understands the limitations of the job, but he is also the type of person who will not be deterred and make the best of the situation.

I’ve known Kelly for 20 years and have great respect for him.

Even with odds stacked against him, I would not bet against Don Kelly.