Derek Shelton is gone but Pirates fans know the job isn’t finished

The Pittsburgh Pirates made headlines on Thursday by firing manager Derek Shelton after a 12-26 start to the season. But it's the story of who they didn't fire that arguably deserves more attention.

Dismissing Shelton, whose .410 career winning percentage was one of the worst by a manager in MLB history, was something that needed to be done. But it's still hard to view the move as something to be celebrated when Shelton's boss, general manager Ben Cherington, remains gainfully employed.

Remember, Cherington and Shelton were hired by the Pirates at the same time in 2020, so Cherington has a .410 winning percentage as Pittsburgh's GM, too. To put things into perspective, that makes him the sixth-worst all-time among Major League GMs with at least five years of tenure, according to Greg Macafee of DK Pittsburgh Sports.

In five seasons under Cherington, the Pirates haven't finished higher than fourth place in the National League Central division. Their offense has consistently ranked among the worst teams in MLB, and Cherington has done little (if anything) to improve it. The Pirates' top three players in terms of OPS – Oneil Cruz (.861), Andrew McCutchen (.750) and Bryan Reynolds (.632) – were acquired by Cherington's predecessors, Neal Huntington and Dave Littlefield.

The Cherington-era Pirates have long prided themselves on their pitching depth, but their staff ranks in the bottom-third in the league in both total strikeouts and ERA. Even Paul Skenes can't save them now.

The Pirates fired Derek Shelton, and Ben Cherington needs to be next

Needless to say, Cherington isn't going to fire himself. Only one man has the power to do that, and that man happens to be the root of this organization's myriad problems that extend far beyond the front office and coaching staff.

Pirates owner and chairman Bob Nutting, whom fans have repeatedly begged to sell the team before he runs it any further into the ground, needs to go one step further and fire his general manager. Even if he were to relieve Cherington of his duties, though, Pirates fans would have no reason to feel confident in Nutting's ability to hire a competent replacement.

In a team statement announcing the Shelton firing, Nutting said – laughably – that the move was made out of a "need to act with a sense of urgency and take the steps necessary to fix this now to get back on track as a team and organization." Where's the sense of urgency to increase the bottom-five payroll, Bob? And where was the urgency from Cherington during the offseason, when the "best" he could do to improve the team's lineup was trading for Spencer Horwitz, a 27-year-old rookie with a chronic wrist injury, and signing the ghost of Tommy Pham?

You can't even say that Pirates under their current leadership have underperformed, because that would imply a level of talent that they never possessed to begin with. Shelton walking the plank doesn't change the fact that the organization is a sinking ship with Cherington (and Nutting) at the helm.

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