DK’s Daily Shot of Pirates: Just keep losing

DK’s Daily Shot of Pirates: Just keep losing

[Music] [Applause] Somebody pitched. Okay. Nobody hit. Another game was lost on the road. And just go ahead and fill in the blanks with whatever names you happen to choose. Good morning to you. Good Friday morning. I’m Don Kavachovich with 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 the two teams in town that care about winning and I hope you’ll check those out as well. Orioles three, Pirates 2 yesterday in Baltimore. That’s a sweep for the O’s. That’s six straight losses for the Pirates after what had been a pretty nice run. And they’re now 64 and 83. Why am I wasting anybody’s time reading their record? when I’ll bet you couldn’t even find five people in that entire clubhouse to cite it. Simple. And I’m just going to come right out and say it because I sure have been thinking it for a while. Lose. Keep losing. Lose out to the finish. There are 15 games left. If the Pirates lose only four more games, any four, they’re guaranteed to finish one win shy of 76, which means that Ben Cherington would be really challenged this time around to suggest that the Pirates are doing even more winning than the year before when in fact last year they won 76 and the year before that they won 76. six. If they’re stuck at 75, it’ll at least be uncomfortable to say something like that again. The reality is they’re not going to go 12 and three the rest of the way. Reality is they’re going to lose 90 plus. They’re 83 now. And the way more unfortunate reality is that it it it might matter. Let me explain what I mean by this. And this is more targeted at those of you who would be, you know, newcomers to the program. Heaven knows why, but let’s just presume that somebody said, “Hey, Daily Shot of Pirates, they’re good. I’ll press this because I’m interested to learn more.” On the 9th of May, when Bob Nutting unilaterally fired Derek Shelton, what was more conspicuous by a mile was that he didn’t fire Cherington. The day after that, I was contacted and asked if I’d welcome a meeting with the owner at PNC Park. Now, no reporter is going to say no to that. And in this context, this is something that I’ve done with nutting beforehand more than once. So, we meet. There’s nobody else in there. There’s no recording device that’s on or anything like that. There’s nothing formal. It’s really a conversation and that’s it. No interviewing, no grilling e either direction. We talked. I’ve gotten to know the man. I’ve covered his entire tenure as majority owner dating back to 2007. We talked. Now, because of the nature of this, and anybody who’s ever spent even half a minute in journalism will know this already, I wasn’t at the time and still am not able to say what he said. But I can tell you that I brought up the GM a lot. There were things to learn about the managerial change. There were things to learn about Don Kelly’s status. There were things to learn about what had gone wrong with Derek Shelton. But I pushed to make sure that most of what was being discussed was the GM for the simple reason that retaining him didn’t make sense to me. Not out of any sort of spite or whatever. I I’ve said this a million times. No issues whatsoever personal with with Cherington. never had a negative encounter with him. Don’t ever expect to. And I’d hope he would think the same thing about me, although I don’t know that. The part that didn’t make sense was that there was a very clear understanding of Cherington’s many shortfalls as an executive. There was a very clear understanding of how a lot of people throughout the organization felt about his performance. And there was a very clear understanding, speaking for myself here, that I wasn’t breaking any news in anything I said. The owner was very well apprised in remarkable detail, which I think will surprise people who see him as being aloof or disconnected, even disinterested. None of which has ever been true. And I’ve shared that with you many times over the years. And in fact, I can assure you that I heard and learned infinitely more about the entire situation, the entire scenario than I’d ever imagined that I would, which to make this point a new confused me that much more because now I I I could begin to grasp what would keep this individual employed, at least not beyond Nutting’s explanation. and he gave me this on the record. I’m going to read this to you verbatim. I asked about Cherington and Nutting’s response was to smile and jokingly change the subject back to Kelly. Now, think about that in isolation. Think about instead of taking the question seriously and saying, “Why? Whatever do you mean? I have a general manager that I really blah blah blah.” And and none of that happened. He said with that smile again quoting directly. So I love Donnie. I think that he’s been in terms of a great person at the right time. I really do just want to take a minute to say how much I have known him and how much I like him. I love Donnie. Known him for a long time and I love this guy. No, for real this happened. He be he made a joke out of it and he did go on to explain his stance that he didn’t want to make a change because in his words we have to focus on 2025 right now this year I have a real sense of urgency and I we collectively need to fix this Ben knows that every coach knows that the players know that I don’t think making broader wholesale changes to the organization is the right way to fix 2025.” End quote. Now, here again, when it comes to votes of confidence, this one would rank pretty low. Didn’t even want to address it. First joked about it, then instead of saying, “This is my guy. I’m standing by him,” or whatever, it was, “This isn’t the right time to make a wholesale change.” My friends, I’ve covered professional sports in the city of Pittsburgh for the better part of my entire life. Born and raised here, followed the Pirates intensely since my very early years of childhood. Nobody, not a reporter, not anybody walks out of that room, and I’m including you in this, believing anything other than that this GM is dead man walking. And remember that I haven’t even shared with you a tiny millifraction of what I actually learned. But I boomerang back to where we were at the beginning today. In the four months that have passed since then, I’ve had zero conversations with Nutting or anyone who could make that move, meaning firing Cherington. As such, I can’t attest to whether or not something could have happened. God knows what that would change that sentiment from that day and in fact from others high up. Since then, I’ve gotten every indication that in fact when this season’s done, he’s going to be fired. I’m not making that prediction. They are. I’m not the one who painted Cherington as dead man walking. I am the one who used the term. But that was the guy way way way at the top. So if he were to be squeamish for whatever reason, and I’m repeating here, I’ve heard nothing to believe that that’s the case, lose. Lose. Just keep losing. Keep it all really, really tidy. That’s a language everybody understands. When we come back, 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 gunstorage check.org. That’s gunstoch checkck.org. Brought to you by NSSF, the firearm industry trade association. Hey guys, if you’re planning to see a Pirates game, use the Game Time app to get your tickets. You can snag new ticket deals before anyone if you set it into App Alerts. The app is easy to use. No surprise fees at checkout. You can see your seat view before buying and you’re getting legit tickets delivered on time. Now, if you’re not much of a planner, you can get lastminute deals on tickets right up to the start of the event. lowest price guarantee or Game Time will credit you 110% of the difference. Download the Game Time app and enter the code DK Pirates in your app profile for $20 off your first purchase. [Music] Today’s J1 Q comes from Matt Graver who says, “DK, could you imagine reading these box scores from this 2025 season to somebody in 2023 and then telling them that Ben Cherington was still employed and talking openly about 2026?” Matt, I I hate to say this, but yeah, I could. I really could. As I said in the opening segment, I’ve covered all of Bob Nutting’s tenure since he became the controlling owner in 2007. I’ve spoken with him countless times. I’ve spoken with people around him about him countless times. And if there’s one trait from a professional standpoint that has really stood out of his and not in a good way, it’s that he overdelegates. There’s a one of about a million misperceptions about him is that he’s telling everybody what to do and he’s saying dump this reliever or get rid of this bonus clause or whatever. He’s not. He’s not. He puts everything he’s got into the hiring process. He makes the selection in which he believes and then he bequeaths that role to that person borderline unconditionally. I have examples that are actually much worse than the current one with Cherington where he’s kept people that I know for a fact that he didn’t like or respect, didn’t think they were doing a great job, and he just kept them because they were his choice. My guess is that all of us here have encountered someone like that in some professional setting. People just have a really hard time firing people or making changes or altering roles and priorities. And then when it eventually does happen, as it did with his previous management team in 2019, it feels like the most seismic event in human history. So, do I have to accept it as somebody who covers the team and comments on it? No. Am I surprised by it also? No. I appreciate the question. I appreciate everybody listening to Daily Shot of Pirates. We’ll be back with another one of these on Monday. [Music]

Just keep losing … like these past six in a row.

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