{"id":107829,"date":"2025-09-29T19:20:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T23:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=107829"},"modified":"2025-09-29T19:20:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T23:20:11","slug":"pirates-extend-contract-manager-don-kelly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/09\/29\/pirates-extend-contract-manager-don-kelly\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirates Extend Contract of Manager Don Kelly"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Monday, the Pittsburgh Pirates announced that they have extended the contract of manager <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/managers\/kellydo01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Don Kelly<\/a> in a press release. As per the Pirates&#8217; usual practice, the length of the extension wasn\u2019t disclosed.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_100196\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-100196\" style=\"width: 608px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-100196\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/05\/USATSI_21539797-300x212.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"608\" height=\"430\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/05\/USATSI_21539797-300x212.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/05\/USATSI_21539797-1024x723.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/05\/USATSI_21539797-768x542.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/05\/USATSI_21539797-1536x1085.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/05\/USATSI_21539797-2048x1447.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 608px) 100vw, 608px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-100196\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sep 30, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates bench coach Don Kelly participates in infield practice before the game against the Miami Marlins at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Pirates Extend Manager Don Kelly<\/h2>\n<p>Kelly took over on May 8 when the Pirates <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/05\/08\/pirates-fire-manager-derek-shelton-don-kelly-replacement\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">fired<\/a> his predecessor, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/managers\/sheltde99.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Derek Shelton<\/a>, after a disappointing 12-26 start. At the time, general manager Ben Cherington described Kelly\u2019s status as \u201cpermanent for this season.\u201d Kelly\u2019s hiring had an immediate impact on the team, as they began to play with more energy and enthusiasm. The Pirates were 59-65 under Kelly, a pace that would have netted them 77 wins over a 162-game season. That\u2019s not a record that\u2019s going to produce championships, but it was in line with reasonable expectations, and may have exceeded them, given the roster Kelly was given to work with.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Pirates announce we have extended the contract of manager Don Kelly.<\/p>\n<p>Full Press Release: <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RUEMZnSSXU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/RUEMZnSSXU<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/E3yz4B2K0V\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/E3yz4B2K0V<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Pirates\/status\/1972705876755562633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 29, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>This latest news is the realization of a lifelong dream for the Pittsburgh native Kelly, who played baseball at Point Park College in downtown Pittsburgh, played 25 games for the Pirates in 2007, and married the sister of former Pirate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/walkene01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-09-29_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Neil Walker<\/a>. Immediately upon taking the reins as manager, Kelly showed some fire, getting ejected from two games in his first week. Pirates players remarked that they liked playing for a manager who had their back. On May 16, the Pirates <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/05\/16\/pirates-former-manager-lamont\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">brought back<\/a> former manager <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lamonge01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-09-29_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gene Lamont<\/a> to serve as a special advisor to Kelly. Lamont joked that Kelly needed to stay in games longer because he didn\u2019t want to do any managing. From then on, Kelly was ejected in just two more games.<\/p>\n<p>Kelly also became popular with the fans. Oh, he has his critics on the talk shows and social media, as do all major league managers. Most understand the impossible task he was given.<\/p>\n<h3>\u201cThe First of Many Steps\u201d<\/h3>\n<p>Kelly\u2019s extension would seem to suggest that, by extension (no pun intended), Cherington is safe for at least the start of next season. After all, a new general manager surely would have wanted to name his own manager. It was recently learned that Cherington\u2019s contract runs through 2027.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDonnie has earned the respect of the players, front office, and our fans \u2013 and he has certainly earned mine,\u201d said Nutting in a statement. \u201cDonnie took over the team at a true low point. Since then, we\u2019ve seen meaningful progress, not just in the clubhouse culture, but on the field. . . Today\u2019s announcement of Donnie is the first of many steps we will take this offseason to bring winning baseball back to Pittsburgh.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Scott Galvin-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Monday, the Pittsburgh Pirates announced that they have extended the contract of manager Don Kelly in a press release. As per the Pirates&#8217; usual practice, the length of the extension wasn\u2019t disclosed. Pirates Extend Manager Don Kelly Kelly took over on May 8 when the Pirates fired his predecessor, Derek Shelton, after a disappointing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5010,"featured_media":100444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1071,35],"tags":[3215,3160,28961,499],"class_list":["post-107829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pirates","category-mlb","category-news","tag-ben-cherington","tag-derek-shelton","tag-don-kelly","tag-neil-walker"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107829"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107862,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107829\/revisions\/107862"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}