DK’s Daily Shot of Pirates: Do the firing today

DK’s Daily Shot of Pirates: Do the firing today

[Music] [Applause] All right, let’s try this a different way. Instead of just constantly calling for Ben Sharington’s firing, let’s call for it today. Like, let’s call for it to occur today and for a reason. Good morning to you. Good Monday morning. I’m Dan Kvachovich of DK Pittsburgh Sports. This is Daily Shot of Pirates. It comes your way bright and early every weekday. If you’re into football andor hockey, I also offer daily shots of Steelers and Penguins. The same place that you found this White Socks 7 Pirates, too. That’s a sweep for Chicago. A team that hadn’t had a sweep all season. Last team in the majors without one. That hadn’t had a road sweep since 2022. that sent a starter with a 5.3 erra to the mound. None of it mattered. None of it mattered. The Pirates just keep losing and losing and losing. That’s 11 losses in the past 12 games. That’s 39 and 61 at the 100 game mark. That’s a pace for 99 losses. There was Cherington on his team produced radio program yesterday saying, and I quote, “Our goal is to win in 2026, and we’re looking to improve the team. We need to find ways over the next several days to July 31 to put ourselves in a better situation going forward to increase the chances of the Pirates being a winning team in 2026 and beyond. That’s our only focus.” End quote. I don’t mean to do that to you so early in the morning. I’m sorry. I take it back. I shouldn’t have actually read the quote. Here’s what I should have done instead. Okay, I I’ll take back the quote thing. I should have laid out the scenario for you that Bob Nutting shows up for work today at 115 Federal and he does get there fairly early on a game day as does Cherington. And he calls him into the office, the big office. The owner has the biggest office in there. Won’t surprise you. And says, “Ben, have a seat.” Ben has a seat. And Bob says, “You know, Ben, been doing some thinking lately. And remember how whenever I fired Derek Shelton, which you weren’t going to do, and remember how I said I wanted to see things get better in 2025?” Yeah. Mhm. Well, that’s clearly not happening. And this whole 2026 shtick of yours kind of flies in the face of the stuff that I was saying at the time about how I wanted to look only at 2025, how I wanted to focus entirely on making whatever strides we could in 2025. So, this this 2026 thing of yours, well, Ben, what I’m trying to say here is Paul Ske is pitching tonight against the Tigers. You know how how the White Socks were the worst team in the American League? Well, the Tigers are the Yeah, they’re the opposite. But with Skins pitching, we’ve always got a chance despite the horrific lineup and roster that you’ve built offensively. And then we’ve got Mitch Keller going for us tomorrow. So, I’m feeling pretty good about these couple of games. I’m feeling like it’s just about the right time to tell you that you’re very very fired. To which Cherington probably just sits there in disbelief and goes right back to his office and keeps right on working because he’s always right. It’s just a matter of, you know, time until all of his decisions reach maximum fruition. At which point, of course, Bob has to call him back into the office about an hour later and remind him that he was in fact fired. This goes on throughout the day, but eventually security comes along and takes care of business. But you have something from which to gain. You have lots from which to gain by making that change at that position at this time. And I mean this time like right now because I can tell you with conviction after having spent the day over there yesterday. The percentage of people and I’m talking about on the inside who want Cherington gone meaning at ground level at field level has never been higher. Meaning that all of this negativity, whether it comes from, you know, public or media criticism like this or fan criticism, which is way more powerful, and I say that all the time, one of you, one booing at the stadium has 30 times the impact of anything that I speak or write on any given day. The dude in the upper deck who screamed out at Spencer Horowitz for dogging it up the first baseline and getting caught 363 on a double play. That guy has all the weight. The people who chanted sell the team, they’ve got all the ears tuning into them. The people who flew the planes over the ballpark that said sell the team or you suck at this Bob or something to that effect. Actually, it was the other way around. You suck at this Bob. Sell the team. Saw the bleeping team. They’ll get it right eventually. They They made an impact. And oh, by the way, contrary to some of the dumbest narratives you will ever see, hear or read about this team, no, you don’t make any impact by staying away. The people who came to the games and who made their voices heard are exactly what the pirates, upper people, and specifically Nutting don’t want. Ticket revenue. It just I don’t know how many times I have to explain this. Ticket revenue doesn’t matter. If you lose out on ticket revenue, it’s made up for in revenue sharing. So, this idea that you’re showing up at the ballpark and you’re giving him money is just it’s so wrong. It’s so painfully wrong that I hate to even bring it up, but it it it’s wrong. Pass the word on. If you came to the ballpark and you chanted or booed or cheered or whatever it is that you did, you made an impact. Same goes for the people who rented the plane the those two days. Man, I need to give up this one cuz I I will just never be able to get this message out. Look, it it it’s a weird time. It’s a bizarre circumstance and yet it’s just par for the course with this franchise anymore. Every other week is something something rock bottom something. Well, I mean, this was rock bottom, but it was rock bottom for now. What happens when they get swept in Denver? Nothing’s going to change until change is affected. The owner is not going to sell now. We know that. So, the only change you can possibly be talking about is firing the guy at the very top of baseball ops. That’s it. At least from a baseball perspective. The fact that that isn’t happening, the fact that there’s no indication of that happening in season is doing exactly the damage that Nutting had hoped to avoid doing if he’d fired Cherington along with Shelton, which he didn’t. It was a mistake then. It’s a massive mistake now. Best time to correct a mistake that you’ve prolonged? Yeah, right about now. like today when we come back to J1Q. [Music] If you’re looking for a great dining experience, look no further than Northshore Tavern. Located directly across Federal Street from PNC Park, next door to Mike’s Beer Bar, Northshore Tavern is Pittsburgh’s home for Steak on a Stone. Enjoy your steak finished on a hot lava stone in front of you, where you ensure each piece is cooked to exactly your liking. Or try their rotating selection of entre. hot sandwiches, salads, and burgers, all while enjoying the ambiance dedicated to the great players and history of the Pittsburgh Pirates all around you. Come see why everyone’s talking about Northshore Tavern and Steak on a Stone. It’s Gun Storage Check Week. Help prevent unwanted access to your firearms. No one wants their unsecured gun to be used in an accident, a suicide, or a crime. Use lock boxes, safes, and locks to secure your firearms. Learn more at gunstoch checkck.org. That’s gunstoch checkck.org. Brought to you by NSSF, the Firearm Industry Trade Association. [Music] Today’s J1Q comes from Bill who says, “DK, there’s a lot of responsibility on the players, and I get that, but how can they continue to care if the front office doesn’t? Change must take place. Top-down change for this or any other sports franchise is pretty straightforward. might not result in an immediate turnaround, but the expectations instantly become very visible from the top all the way down. You’re right, Bill, and I’m not going to argue it. I believe that the players would get another one of those waves of whatever it was that rushed through their clubhouse at the time Derek Shelton was fired. Once Ben Cherington is fired, they’d get that sense that, hey, look at this. Somebody actually does care. But at the same time, I’m going to seize upon your question here to share that I spent a decent chunk of my day at the ballpark yesterday trying to get a sense for how much players will blame themselves for what’s taken place. If I’m remiss in any aspect of my coverage of the Pirates in 2025, it’s that I have focused a lot and I believe rightly so on the general manager, a little bit less on the owner, unless you look at it from the prism of the fact that he has not fired the general manager, somewhat on the manager until that change was made, but really not all that much on the players. I got to tell you, I saw and heard some stuff yesterday that I didn’t like, and it had nothing to do with anybody in charge. I saw some blatant giveaway at bats. Now, I know that’s not exactly new, but I’d also thought, maybe hoped that they’d gone away once Don Kelly took over, and this was not a good look for anyone involved. I saw on the base paths a lot of stuff that I didn’t like. I mentioned the Spencer Horwitz thing. I saw in the field two different plays that I really didn’t like. And on top of that, I I just saw continued this is setting effort aside. Just I don’t mean to sound mean here with this, but if we can criticize management, we can criticize the players, too. Incompetence. Hear me when I say this. I really like Jack Sinsky. There’s nothing to not like. Great kid. Works his rear end off. Had his chin held so high coming out of spring training. I remember talking to him in Fort Myers in the last day of grapefruit ball and he was just ready and raring to go. You could tell he felt like he’d figured it all out. And then you know this Jack went 0 for three in this one with a couple of Ks. And yeah, he had the one ball that he hit a long way to left. The ballpark was a little bit cruel to him, but 0 for three with two Ks leaves him now, I don’t know if you’re following his numbers, but they’re unbelievable for the season. He’s now 6 for 57 with 28 strikeouts. He strikes out in half of all of his official at bats and has only six hits. Now, could the GM have gotten better players for the position? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I’m I’m just setting him aside for once. Okay. Joey Bart, he struck out all three times he was up. He’s batting 232. He has one home run in 226 plate appearances this season. He has been, for the most part, placed in the middle of the order. And I’m only pointing that out not to criticize batting order, which almost never matters anyway, but rather to point out what the expectations were. He was supposed to hit home runs the way he was doing last season. Henry Davis, other catcher, Henry didn’t play, but Henry’s three for 25 in July. Did you realize that he had that 4 for four game at the end of June? And a lot of people, myself included, were like, “Whoa, what if Henry comes around? Wouldn’t that be something? 3 for 25 in July. His season average is 191. His career average is 191. 4 years after being the number one overall pick in the draft. Now, here too, there’s ample room to criticize the GM and development and everything else here. Not what I’m doing in the moment here. Players are to a very large extent responsible for their own competence. Even those like all three of these that I just mentioned whose regimen is beyond questioning. What about leadership? What about accountability? Ben Cherington traded Adam Frasier away a week ago for some 28-year-old prospect who could conceivably become the first ever actual 28-year-old prospect to make it. And to my knowledge, if it wasn’t for Frasier, there wouldn’t be any leadership in that clubhouse. And guess what? There just might not be. Here’s a 30-second exchange between me and Brian Reynolds, who along with Mitch Keller and Andrew McCussen in his own way are the most tenured members in this room. And I asked Reynolds if with all the criticism of the GM and the owner and everything else, there shouldn’t be more on the players themselves. I mean, yeah, we need to be better. Need to uh score more runs and do all that. So, I mean, it’s on us, too. Is that in here? That accountability. Do you feel that’s in here as a team leader? Yeah. I mean, obviously, nobody’s going out there trying to fail, so I mean, we’re everybody’s working hard. It’s just not translating. Oh, boy. Huh. Yeah. I mean, how how does it not become clear to the guy at the top of this structure that a significant no no wholesale change needs to occur at the top of baseball operations? I appreciate the question. I appreciate everybody listening to Daily Shot of Pirates. Be back with another one of these tomorrow. [Music]

Do the right thing, and fire Ben Cherington today.

#Pittsburgh #Pirates #LetsGoBucs #MLB #DKPS

Hear award-winning columnist Dejan Kovacevic’s Daily Shot of Pirates every weekday morning!

SUBSCRIBE TO CHANNEL ► https://www.youtube.com/@DKPS_Pirates?sub_confirmation=1

MEMBERSHIP TO CHANNEL ► https://www.youtube.com/@DKPS_Pirates/join

OUR APPS ► https://DKPS.net/apple | https://DKPS.net/android

OUR WEBSITE ► http://www.DKPittsburghSports.com

ABOUT US ► DK Pittsburgh Sports is the proud, pioneering, fully independent venture begun in 2014 by award-winning reporter Dejan Kovacevic and featuring a professional staff covering the Pirates year-round and everywhere they go! This is where it all started!