Pirates blowing perfect managerial move this offseason feels even worse after Shelton firing

The Pirates' decision to fire Derek Shelton seems justified, given the terrible start to the season, but looking at where they were to end 2024, why did they wait until 38 games in 2025? During the offseason, Pittsburgh had the chance to bring in a Terry Francona, but decided to stick with Shelton. Now, that decision feels so much worse.

Ben Cherington was left with the decision after the conclusion of the 2024 season, and he told the media that he was confident with Shelton entering 2025. The organization felt that 2025 was a year in which they could compete.

"I believe [Shelton] can help lead us toward winning in 2025," Cherington stated at his end of the year press conference last year. "I believe he already does a lot of the aspects of the job very well and at a high level."

Cherington apparently had all the confidence in Shelton, but he didn't even make it through a quarter of the season. Obviously the 12-26 start pushed them to make some kind of decision, yet it could have easily been avoided. Shelton struggled in his biggest test of his managerial career in that 11-game slump against NL West opponents last summer. That there told everyone what they needed to know about what he can do as manager. So, at the start of a window in which they could have contended, why didn't they turn to a known winner in Francona?

The Pirates missing out on a golden opportunity with Terry Francona hurts even worse now that Derek Shelton is fired.

Francona would not have had the final say regarding what Cherington and Bob Nutting decided to do with the roster, but his day-to-day management of the team assembled would have been top notch. Prior to signing a contract with the Reds, his record sat at 1,950-1,672, nearly 300 games above .500. Additionally, he'd managed 17 teams that finished with a winning record. Oh, and he won two World Series with the Red Sox and sent Cleveland to the World Series in 2016.

Cleveland is a very similar franchise to Pittsburgh in terms of payroll, so Francona is very familiar with those kinds of teams. Francona also grew up 30 miles from Pittsburgh in New Brighton, PA. A superstar manager familiar with payroll constraints and packed with hometown grit? That made for a perfect fit between the two sides, but Pittsburgh decided to roll the dice with Shelton and now it is haunting them.

Fracona currently has the Reds near .500, which looks sustainable to compete in the NL Central. The Pirates will now send Don Kelly out to manage a team that is 14 games below .500. As sad as that is to see, this could have all been avoided if they would have fired Shelton 38 games earlier and gone with Francona.