DK’s Daily Shot of Pirates: Is .500 good enough?

29 comments

1. Have you heard anything about FAs avoiding the Pirates because of how they treated Tellez the end of last year?

2. .500 😂

   Fat chance

3. They win 77 games they keep there jobs may even keep it if they fall below and or stay the same. Best management team in sports.

4. Endy Rodriguez is there rf

5. Nutting should move the team to Wheeling and become a AAA club for an expansion team. Then at least the bozos he hires might succeed a little.

6. Vegas odds say 76.5 wins. They’re winning more.

7. Grew up in the 70’s and early 80’s, I was lucky enough to have witnessed the pirates have some success. I couldn’t care less about this BS team that they’ve become. The owner is a non-athletic nerd who has no idea about competition and winning , his sole purpose for owning this team is business and profit!! Sadly I will not aid him in making money on this team, I.e, I won’t be attending any games. He has us over a barrel, he’ll move the team if it loses money here, but I’m at the point now I don’t care, he’s gonna bleed us dry and move it on no matter! Eff Nutting!!

8. I can't believe I am saying this, but I hate being a fan of the Pirates and Steelers right now. I am seriously considering a divorce from both, and I am internally sad. I just want to enjoy watching both teams compete and have the legit hope that either could win a championship at some point. I have zero hope that the Steelers will win more than 10 games and win a playoff game and the Pirates win more than 81 games and get a wild card. The City of Champions moniker has died and I do not see that coming back again in my lifetime.

9. Cult

10. Honestly.500 stinks

11. Seems to me the Nutting virus has spread to all of Pittsburgh’s sports owners. Symptoms are hiring nerd gm’s, keeping fraud coaches too long, winning just enough for appearances and raking in HUGE PROFITS.

12. Every pitch that Paul Skenes throws in a non-playoff year is a fireable offense

13. Id even respect it if they came out and said "look, we didn't do a good enough job so we need to spend one last season building." But no, they're just pretending that everything is hunkydory!

14. J1Q – DK, have you ever heard them say that making the playoffs is their goal? Playing .500 ball while keeping payroll low seems their goal. And no matter what they say, their actions betray them.

15. K, quick math. They are projected for .500, aka 81 wins. You acknowledge they will probably add a right fielder, lets say that upgrade adds 1 win. 82 wins. They are then 1 breakout player away from playoff contention. And thats without considering adding players at the trade deadline. Reminder, the Diamondbacks made the playoffs in 2023 with 84 wins. This isn't some fantasy land, they are right there. And that is with very conservative estimates for Skenes, Cruz, Reynolds, Chandler, Bart, McCutchen, etc.

16. Shelty and cherrington are back. Cut ties with checks notes rowdy tellez, Michael Taylor, Chapman, and Louis Ortiz…. Brings in………… Spencer Horowitz. “We are committed to winning.” That’s the best joke I’ve heard in a while. They always said they’ll spend when it’s time. Not sure about yall, but it feels time to me. Skenes is a guy you ride to a championship. And they’re gonna piss their years with him away and trade him for prospects in a couple years. So frustrating and predictable

17. This team as it is constructed now, will not be close to .500. A 95 loss season is ahead.

18. This Weird Al Yankovic video captures the Pirates' management:
    https://youtu.be/GyV_UG60dD4

    Thank you, DK for all your reporting!

19. Having MLB baseball in our city is good enough…

20. The pitching rich LA Dodgers seem to be planning to institute a six man starting rotation this season. With so many inexperienced starters, like Skenes, Jones, Burrows and Chandler, do you think the Pirates should do the same, DK?

21. I've wondered if Bob Nutting's passive behavior would be viewed clinically as a case study of passive-aggressiveness. After it became clear before the offseason began that Cherington and Shelton weren't going anywhere, I immediately interpreted that non-move as a big "f*** you" to Pirate fans. Nutting is totally aware how unhappy the fans have been, and also how increasingly vocal they've become.

    Clinical signs of passive-aggressive behavior:

    Resentment and opposition to the demands of others;

    Resistance to cooperation by engaging in procrastination or intentional mistakes in response to others' demands;

    A cynical, sullen, or hostile attitude;

    Chronically feeling underappreciated and 'acting out' in specific ways as a result.

    Last season was so awful at times — big leads blown late in games, and the horrendous 10-game losing streak in August — that immediate, corrective action by Nutting could've been taken before the season was over (but it wasn't). Corrective action should've been taken right after the 2024 season ended– but it OBSTINATELY wasn't.

    Emotionally intelligent leaders process others' criticisms and complaints with curiosity instead of defensiveness. They want to learn as much as they can and use the information as part of their strategic goal to make themselves — and the organization — better. Unfortunately, there's no ACTUAL goal at all for Nutting and management– at least not one based on consistent team improvement, or successfully competing for a significantly larger number of wins.

    Dan Quinn, the first-year coach of the Washington Commanders, is an interesting example of how seeking out feedback (good or bad) can jump-start change. After being fired by the Atlanta Falcons after a terrible Super Bowl loss in 2017, he hired a consultant for coaches to conduct a "360 Review." The consultant spoke to 30-40 of Quinn's former colleagues for anonymous feedback about his blindspots and areas for improvement. "This is hard," the consultant said. "You hear everything that is said about you." Quinn sought the advice of Terry Francona, who'd dealt with a major professional setback during the 2016 World Series. I wasn't going to just rinse and repeat," Quinn said. "I didn't get fired because it was going great. So I said, "OK, that's a call to order for me." Quinn has certainly done an outstanding job with the Commanders in his very first year with the team.

    In maddening contrast, Nutting and Williams enable Cherington and Shelton to "rinse and repeat" season after season. They all sequester themselves each year and try to ignore even the most constructive feedback– because of course they're always right, and others clearly have no idea what they're talking about. I'd love to see the results of a "360 Review" for these grossly incompetent individuals. The results would probably be revealing in ways that I can't even fathom.

    Running a professional sports team through carefully constructed channels of defense mechanisms must be tremendously difficult for many of the Pirate players to deal with every season. I think about this issue often because environment has such an impact on mood and performance.

    The photo of Derek Shelton for today's "Daily Shot" was an excellent choice. I've had sub-zero respect for him because in his own mind, his decision-making in games is never wrong (it's just the players who aren't executing). When he viciously barked at a reporter after an 11-0 loss last season when questioned about the pitching strategy used in the game, that visually summed Shelton's mind-blowing level of unprofessionalism. His photo is also a stark reminder that even if the players magically make the 2025 playoffs through sheer GROUP effort (and no thanks to management), Shelton would be the worst field manager they could possibly have on board to attempt to navigate the Pirates through the MLB postseason.

22. .500?? The teams in the division have improved. I could see them going 70-92 and finishing In 5th place again. And I’m actually a positive fan, but a realist too.

23. The Pirates were an arm or two away from being serious contenders back in 2013-2015. The last wild card game was in 2015, the same year the team was dismantled to save money, trading Neil Walker to start. I remember the 98 win team, I remember the full baseball park with incredible fans..

    I'm not hopeful any significant additions will be made to the roster given the history and current management to present. As you said, starts and stops with Nutting, and that is what concerns me. Actions speak louder as they say..watch what they do, not what they say. Why would he invest when he's being paid free dividends under the current league structure to not have to invest? He isn't a baseball guy, he's a businessman who happens to own a sports team.

24. Healthy K' Bron Hayes should be plus 5 wins ,if we keep him😊

25. Thank you DK. They now have a Pitcher they won't be able to afford over a short time. I sure hope they make avg. 500 this season and keep up the standard. I want them to win and make the playoffs, so far I haven't see anything yet. Love the show DK.

26. Here's a crazy idea. Have the pirates ever thought to themselves maybe to coach the young players up? Oh wait my mistake.. this is the Pirates. They don't have anyone capable of doing that. When they do they fire the guy IE Ke'Bryan Hayes hitting coach

27. DK- for J1Q: what would you do if you were the 11 yr old kid from LA who pulled the Skenes rookie card?

28. I stopped paying attention to the Pirates 30 years ago. I check the standings every once in a while and see that things haven't changed and I go back to enjoying my summer. I'm not engaging with a team that has been mediocre for almost my entire lifetime.

29. To paraphrase JuJu S-S, The Pirates is The Pirates anymore. As long as Stooges Moe (Nutting) Larry (Williams) Curly (Cherington) & Shemp (Shelton) run this slipshod organization things don't seem to getting any better. What big name would want to sign here? Competent mgmt would have checked out Terry Francona, also. The Pirate's lease is up at PNC Park in 2030 & it's almost getting to the point where I don't care if Nutting then moves the team to Charlotte or wherever. ¯_(ツ)_/¯