{"id":26889,"date":"2019-11-27T13:52:21","date_gmt":"2019-11-27T18:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/?p=26889"},"modified":"2019-11-27T16:17:38","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T21:17:38","slug":"derek-shelton-hired-pirates-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2019\/11\/27\/derek-shelton-hired-pirates-manager\/","title":{"rendered":"Derek Shelton Hired As Pittsburgh Pirates 41st Manager"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/mlb-teams\/pittsburgh-pirates\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a> have found their next manager. The team has hired <strong>Derek Shelton<\/strong> to be the 41st manager in franchise history. The move comes less than two weeks after the team named <strong>Ben Cherrington<\/strong> its <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/2019\/11\/15\/ben-cherington-to-be-the-next-pittsburgh-pirates-gm\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">new general manager<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Pirates have hired Derek Shelton as our 41st Manager of the organization.<\/p>\n<p>Shelton has 15 years of coaching experience and spent the last two seasons as the bench coach of the Minnesota Twins. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nbm6Es4Qoc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/nbm6Es4Qoc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Pirates\/status\/1199741415166763010?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 27, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>v<\/p>\n<p>Shelton takes over following a nine-year stint by<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hurdlcl01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clint Hurdle<\/a><\/strong> as manager. With 15 total seasons as a coach, Shelton\u00a0spent the last two seasons as <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/mlb-teams\/minnesota-twins\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Minnesota Twins<\/a> bench coach.<\/p>\n<p>He was specifically able to learn under two Manager of the Year award winners as Twins bench coach. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/molitpa01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paul Molitor<\/a><\/strong> had <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/2017\/11\/15\/paul-molitor-wins-al-manager-year\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">won the award<\/a> the season prior to Shelton&#8217;s first as bench coach, and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/baldero01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rocco Baldelli<\/a><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/2019\/11\/12\/mlb-manager-of-the-year-winners-mike-shildt-and-rocco-baldelli\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">won the award<\/a> this past season.<\/p>\n<p>Shelton was also in the running for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/mlb-teams\/new-york-mets\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New York Mets<\/a> managerial opening. That job ultimately went to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/beltrca01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carlos Beltran<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>The Job Ahead<\/h2>\n<p>Derek Shelton will take over a Pirates team that is in a tough spot from an on-the-field-standpoint. The team was in contention for the NL Central at the All-Star break, but they collapsed in the second half to finish 69-93, 22 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for first place.<\/p>\n<p>They were 25-48 in the second half. For the season, they had a -153 run differential, the second worst in the National League.<\/p>\n<p>The team hit rock-bottom in a seven-day span when a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/mlb\/pirates\/2019\/09\/10\/pirates-reliever-kyle-crick-finger-surgery-clubhouse-altercation-felipe-vazquez\/2281936001\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">clubhouse fight<\/a> sent <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/crickky01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyle Crick<\/a><\/strong> to the injured list and closer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/riverfe01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Felipe Vazquez<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/2019\/09\/17\/pittsburgh-pirates-closer-felipe-vazquez-arrested\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">was arrested<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>The Positives<\/h3>\n<p>There are some promising pieces in place for Shelton to manager. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=belljo02,belljo01,bell--008jos&amp;search=Josh+Bell&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Bell<\/a><\/strong> enjoyed a breakout season in which he was named an All-Star. He hit 37 home runs with 116 RBI while posting a slash line of .277\/.367\/.569. He also totaled 300 bases and scored 94 runs.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reynobr01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bryan Reynolds<\/a><\/strong> hit .314 in 594 plate appearances to finish fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting. His final slash line was .314\/.377\/.503, and he hit 16 home runs with 64 RBI.<\/p>\n<h3>The Outlook<\/h3>\n<p>The team&#8217;s .264 average was the best in the NL, but they still finished 11th in terms of runs scored while the pitching staff finished 14th in terms of ERA.<\/p>\n<p>Struggling to score runs and an inability to prevent runs is never a good formula for success, but with Shelton taking over in this new regime, some changes are sure to come for the Pirates.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo: <a id=\"yvkxHrS_R6FXqiSUECWSrg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1165368761\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'yvkxHrS_R6FXqiSUECWSrg',sig:'JUZXlnJaA4KBgqhCrPpcPxNwik6d-eE2kIE44uOR6qY=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1165368761',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Pirates have found their next manager. The team has hired Derek Shelton to be the 41st manager in franchise history. The move comes less than two weeks after the team named Ben Cherrington its new general manager. The Pirates have hired Derek Shelton as our 41st Manager of the organization. Shelton has 15 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2758,"featured_media":26895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_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":[26,2,13,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pirates","category-featured","category-twins","category-news"],"modified_by":"DJ Kleinbard","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26889","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\/2758"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}