BREAKING: Ben Cherington & Don Kelly Returning To Pirates in 2026

BREAKING: Ben Cherington & Don Kelly Returning To Pirates in 2026

Today, the Pirates extended Don Kelly to remain as the manager for this team through 2026. But things didn’t stop there. It was also reported that Ben Cherington has been reassured his role as the general manager for 2026. Yes, this means Ben Cherington will not be fired this off season. You’re listening to the Northshore 9 podcast presented by FanDuel. [Music] fellas. I’m sick, but welcome to the Northshore 9 emergency podcast. Um, that’s Jim. That’s Tyler. I myself am Dinardo. You know who we are. Uh, this is the worst day of my life. [Laughter] The worst day of your life, man. Yeah. You know what? I’m just I’m so pissed. One, because of the news, but two, like, did we have to do this today? They couldn’t give us just like a day of rest from this godforsaken team to just I don’t know just like breathe for a second. Literally right after a 71 win season, they’re like, “Hey, let’s go ahead and schedule a press conference that says, you know, how good everything is and darn it, we’re on the right track and everybody’s coming back next year.” They couldn’t wait. They couldn’t wait like just like 24 hours just to like let let me breathe a little bit. No. Tyler’s speechless. They couldn’t take a day to at least review the season and realize how big of a freaking joke it was. No, they it was reviewed. They’re much closer than they appear. It’s like the mirror on your on your on your car. You know, you look in there and objects are closer than they appear. That’s the 2026 season and uh the talent that they have. It’s much closer than it appears, guys. Yeah. You have to keep in mind, Tyler, they have the sufficient resources to go out there and build the playoff team in 2026. Full stop. Period. Period. Period. And if you ask them how, they’ll tell you because I said so. Look at all the signs. All the signs are pointing towards playoffs in 2026. The sad thing is like everything you guys are saying it sounds like you’re being satir satirical or it’s a parody of something. No, those were Travis Williams words. Those were direct quotes. That’s what he said. Yeah. I mean, like literally as a direct quote, “Our belief and expectation is that this team is a lot closer than our performance and our records would suggest. Our goal is to win in 26 and make the playoffs. Period. And full stop. My intentions are to marry Margot Robbie next year. It’s not happening. You’re really digging deep in that one, huh? Yeah. Love her. Every offseason I feel like there’s that. It’s always a Marggo Rob. Every offseason it’s not happening, right? So maybe I should give up hope too. Oh, yeah. Before we go further, just shout out to Ben for the $2. Appreciate you, Ben. That $2 will go into making NS9 better for next year. We’re going to double down on resources, which are already here. We have them, but we’re going to ensure next year is is wonderful. But it does say I’m not a bad word speaker, but I want to. As a PIT fan, I didn’t know this about you, and a Browns fan. I’ve seen some stuff. No laughs, Jim. But this beats them all. I’m just devastated. In the way, a loved one, you just lets in a way a loved one just lets you down. Stop touching. Thanks for the $2, Ben. Yeah. Um, I feel like the news just kept it just kept getting worse and worse throughout the day. So, if you listen to Buck Brew, if you watched uh if if you read Noah’s article, you know, basically Noah’s article today laid out just how much of a cluster this organization is from the top down. And like everybody everybody apparently knows it. The players know it, the coaches know it, front office members know it, everybody knows that it’s just a mess. It’s a disaster. Next thing that comes up is, hey, Don Kelly is coming back next year. And I’ll say this, out of all the news that happened today, this is that’s the one piece where like cool, I’m fine with that. Like I I’m I’m one of those people where I prescribe to like I don’t think the manager makes too too big of a difference unless they’re like really bad. And like Don Kelly hasn’t given me any reason to think he’s not capable of being a major league manager. So it’s like sure, why not? He seems nice. I like him. The players like him. Pits in, you know, let’s go for it. Hold on. Jim’s like request for a manager, his first word, the first words out of his mouth were, seems nice. Seems nice. Where we’re at right now, seems nice. We’ll go with that. That’s the bar is incredibly low right now. And the problem is that’s not even our complaint today is manager, which I don’t really have a complaint either. I’m with I’m a little I’m a little peeved that we’re just deciding that right now and not letting this thing play out and maybe, you know, trying to improve anything. But whatever you want to go with that, fine. But seems nice is like that’s not just your words there, Jim. Like that’s also like a lot of what the Pirates are going for here. Yeah, he’s a nice guy. We like him. He He does what we say. I mean, I have to agree with Jim and I I this is something again like I’ve been saying this for some time. I’m indifferent. Like if he’s back, I’m fine with it. I have no qualm with Don Kelly from my point of view. A lot of this, of course, is secondhand, but it appears that he has a good relationship with the players. And it’s not a good relationship in a sense of like, oh, he’s nice and we like him. It’s like he tries he cares for them. He tries to bring the best out of them, right? So, based on the information that I know of Don Kelly, I’m not wanting him gone, but again, I would be okay with it. It’s not like I’m trying to pound my hand on the table and saying like Don Kelly needs to be back either, you know? Like I’m okay either way. If he’s back, he’s he’s fine. If Ben Cherington were to get fired and that means it’s a good chance Don Kelly is going to be gone and another guy’s going to come in, then like also so be it, you know? Like it just is what it is. I don’t really have a preference either way. So him coming back again, like I’m okay with it. I’m okay with it. Okay. But can we at least let the smoke settle? And I’m good with that to I’ll say this if if it was just Don Kelly like I don’t have a big deal right now because you’re going into this offseason there’s some uncertainty unless there’s like talks like okay we’re going to wait a little bit but it’s like do you want him in limbo all also like if you want him go get it. What really gets me is like the reassurance of Ben Sherington so far this early. Don Kelly again like and I I hate to turn this like hey you know what kudos to Don Kelly celebrate he got the extension good for him but sorry Don Kelly to rain on your parade today uh it’s a nightmare because what yeah yeah I think that’s what I’m most upset about too like this was supposed to be like a good day right like you’re announcing the extension of a manager like a hometown guy and you just lump it in with all this other stuff that nobody wants and it’s just it it sour the entire situation like now like like you don’t even really get to celebrate Don Kelly in any way and and I’m not saying like it’s to to be celebrated. I’m not saying like Don Kelly performance as a like the Pirates performance post Don Kelly wasn’t something to be celebrated, but if your goal was to like put out some some some good vibes to say, “Hey, this hometown guy that everybody seems to like, yeah, we’re keeping them.” It’s just like all that just got thrown to the wayside here. Um, and they did it in the damn press release. Like in the press release this season, this is a quote from Bob Nutting. This season we fell short as an organization both on and off the field. It has been unacceptable. Our focus must shift to execution to delivering wins. Results are the only thing that matter. We owe it to our fans, to the city, to the legacy of the team, blah blah blah. But then he goes on to say, “Ben and everyone in the organization fully understands what is expected and that the work ahead demands urgency. Today’s announcement of Donnie is the first of many steps we will take this off season to bring winning baseball back to Pittsburgh.” Jim, when you want lights on in your room, what do you do? I hate your analogies, but I’m just going to entertain. I turn the lights on. So if you’re going to switch something, that means it wasn’t there, right? So what do you mean you’re going to like the focus is going to switch to winning? Why are you telling us it’s going to switch? If in order for you to switch it, it had have not been there, right? So you’re admitting also in your stupid words that you weren’t invested into winning until apparently now. Oh, you know what? Yes. You know what, guys? For these past six years, that’s been awful. You know what? Now I reflect on that and I’ve decided I’m going to switch. As of today the focus will be winning. Then what the hell have you been doing? And for Travis Williams ho my only focus is on winning. I’ve been part of winning organizations and I know what it takes. Well, you’re the president. You’re switching it to to winning today. That’s what you’re doing. Thanks. Glad you been part of the ride. I don’t understand the analogy still, but continue. I I get the analogies. I just hate them. Um, but like what’s if if it’s if it was unacceptable, if the if the results on and off the field this season were unacceptable, your solution to it can’t just be, “Let’s run it back.” That’s what they’re doing. They’re just saying, “You know what? These guys unacceptable performance. Let’s try again.” But I I will accept this, Rose. As unacceptable as it is, I will accept for another year. And I’m with you, too. Like, our focus must shift to execution, to delivering wins. Like, what the hell has it been? What the hell was the sh What was what was the what was the focus this year? The focus this year wasn’t winning. The focus last year wasn’t winning. The focus has been winning for a few years now. Now, I’ll grant the first couple years, the focus was not winning. And you know, I’m I’m pissed about it, but like that’s that was the plan. But the plan the last few way last few years has been to win. And we’re now saying this going into year seven. Year seven of this. our shift. We must shift our focus to winning. Every single team in the National League Central since Ben Sharington was hired has made the playoffs, not once, but at least two times. Every single team, the Reds, the Brewers, the Cardinals, the Cubs, they’ve all made the postseason twice at least in Ben Sharington’s tenure. Ben Cherington hasn’t even finished in fourth place twice. Now, to be fair, Jim, the teams got to go to the playoffs twice because the Pirates weren’t even focused on winning. I mean, they they the Pirates just allow them to happen. But things are going to change now. Things are going to change now. It’s okay. Now, we got them right where we want them. Thank you, Ike, for the $2. How much can Don Kelly do with the staff changes? I mean, the manager should have pretty good control over who his assistant coaches are. But yeah, I just everything that came out of a Pirates official’s mouth today just just pissed me off. And I haven’t even gotten to Travis Williams yet. I’m still on Bob Nutting. I haven’t even gotten to the press conference. We’ll get there. But that paragraph to end the press release, that paragraph is unacceptable. Like, how are you putting that on paper? That’s not even a like, you had time to think about this. This isn’t something you were put on the spot for. You had time to think about this and to proofread it and you thought it was acceptable to say that, “Oh, now we got to shift to winning.” How how long did they have to proofread this? This is this is the best they could do. This is the best that Bob Nunning could do. And anybody who’s in charge of making sure whatever he says isn’t stupid. This was stupid. It’s the dumbest paragraph. Like like that paragraph should have been written and rewritten 10 times. And it looks like they just chat gpt some And this is what it’s spit out. I I really just want to say the f word really bad right now. So that’s why I’ve been so quiet. But this is an absolute joke. I I it it’s almost like I want to be surprised, but I’m not because this team just continues to do things that just spit in the fans mouth. Like, here, just spit on me. It’s fine. It’s what they do every freaking year. And we’ll just come back next year with a lower payroll because attendance was down this year. It’s your guys’s fault. Look, if you guys show up to the ballpark, we’ll spend more money. No, we’ll keep shifting blame to other people. Similar to Noah’s article earlier, it’s someone else’s fault all the time, and the Pirates will find a way to make this someone else’s fault because they are too incompetent to hire competent people. Well, Travis Williams said that. He basically said, um, where’s the quote here? But he talks about how yeah like we we started off on the wrong foot meaning they kept Derek Shelton and then once they got rid of Shelton it’s like oh now now we can see clearly now the the rain is yeah yeah under 500 baseball’s cool we’ll stick that and and now they have all the resources again they have the young pitching they have the depth of pitching which they can turn and flip for bats they have the one of the top arm systems in baseball and of course the top prospect to paraphrase Travis Williams once again. They have the resources and the talent to do what they need to do to set up the playoffs and win next year. Period. Full stop. I want to throw up. I I honestly though, but for real, I I don’t understand. I don’t. And Tyler, I just remember that one NS9 Live when Noah had the quote as well as more or less like, listen guys, I I’m really not hearing any reason that Ben Sher is going to get fired. And that’s when you and I talked that night, Tyler, and was just like, you know, at this point, I’m moving forward that he’s going to be here. Just there’s nothing there’s no smoke about Ben truly getting fired. And if there’s no smoke, maybe there’s no fire. So that’s how I was operating with the hope that he gets fired, rightfully so. And here we are today. There’s reassurance that he is going to return next year during Don Kelly’s presser of being extended and and again like like how you said Jim too. I mean just if anything like at least let him the person celebrate his own day. Like at least have let Don Kelly have his own day. Let him be happy. It’s like you know he does this and the whole talk is about everything else and it’s like come on guys. like I’m one of you two. I mean, I did like what Don Kelly said. If anything, you know, he’s talking about like, listen, guys, I I I grew up here. I was a Pirates fan. Still am a Pirates fan. You know, I’ve seen all this. I’ve wanted to win. Like, you know, he’s kind of expressing like I I feel your guys’ pain. I lived it also. I want to do everything I can, which again is is also word, salad, and that’s what you’re going to say, right? I don’t really care anymore about everyone telling us we’re going to do everything we can. We’re going to work tirelessly to to get winning. I mean, we’ve been hearing that since ’92, you know, like that doesn’t do anything. Like, show it. But regardless, I mean, he was trying to make the point like, like, listen guys, I’m one of you. I want to see the Pirates win. Also, I was a fan. I still am a fan. I’m gonna do everything I can to get them there. So, like, at least I’ll let him in celebrate today and then tomorrow say, “Well, we’re going to bring Ben back.” But Don Kelly couldn’t even do that. Like, they couldn’t even do good for one of their own today. They just had to open their mouths. And as always, anytime they open their mouth, just terrible things happen. And that’s what happened today. Just with Ben, with Travis, they’re just a bunch of losers. And I know like we we do the bit like losers, you’re all a bunch of losers. But yeah, it’s not on the show. Bob Nutting, Travis Williams, and Ben Sharington are just the three amigos of losers. like losers. Every one of them Travis entire Travis Williams has no idea what he’s talking about when it comes to baseball. And one, the Pirates just trot him out there to just say words and he just sounds like an idiot because he doesn’t know what he’s doing. And you know, like shout out to the the Pirates media, like they pressed they pressed Travis Williams because you don’t get to talk Travis Williams too often. They pressed him pretty hard, you know, when when he was like, “We’ve got sufficient resources to win in 2026.” Like they were like, “What the hell do you mean? How can you say that? Uh, have you seen baseball at all? Like, have you have you watched this team in any way whatsoever?” Um, and and Travis really didn’t handle it very well. Uh he he kind of went out there with just the conviction of his talking points of we’re going to make the playoffs, full stop, period. Best pitching staff in baseball, number one prospect. Like that was sort of just his talking. Did you really say they’re going to make the playoffs or they’re going to try? Oh, he’s our goal is to win in 26 and make the playoffs. Our goal period. Full stop. Full stop. You know, just like in 2023 with Ben Sherington when he’s asked when we can when we can expect a winner. We’re gonna work our butts off to make sure we can get there. Uh, sir, 2022, whatever that was. Three. That was the That was November of 21. Was that 21? That was November of 21. Grief, sir. So, I’m sorry I mixed up all the like five press conference or all the five interviews Ben Sharon has had where you know what? But we’re going to work our butts off. You know what? We could get there one day. There are kids outside right now playing and I can hear them like playing basketball out there. I just want to yell out the window. Don’t you know Ben Sharington’s back next year. There’s no reason to be freaking happy. Stop playing basketball. Go inside. Be sad. This is miserable. Like plain and simple. I’m sorry, guys, but this is like setting this is setting this franchise back so far. Oh, speaking of No, it’s not. Tyler, given where this team is at this point in time, we felt at the end of the day that making a change as a general manager would set us back. And that’s not what our fans expect, Tyler. Our fans don’t expect us to be set back. Our fans expect us to to continue progressing, you know, as you’ve seen clearly through. I mean, they the team must have won more games this year than last year. Right. Right. I don’t want to be set back. I want to continue the progress. I don’t have anything to throw. You got a couple bats. That’s a direct quote from Travis Williams. Oh, making changes would set this team back. Travis, you just lost 91 games this year. You h We haven’t lost that many games in three years. What the hell kind of setback are you talking about? The setback is here. We are in the setback. We are setting back as we speak. We are in the setback. Cracks me. like we’re we are sitting in it right freaking now. But we are 76 76 and now 71. That’s the past three years win totals which and I love Doug always points this out too. Last year Ben talked about how they won more games and like they didn’t they won the same amount of games. And now this year after losing ground on that we’re go from 76 76 71 wins. We’re talking about well we can’t change the GM because that could set back our progress. They had to win 84 damn games to make the playoffs and they couldn’t even bother to do that. They couldn’t even try to do that. They didn’t. Well, they did. They just didn’t have No, they did not in place. It was tried. No, you’re right. I retained him. Yes. Which wasn’t my idea to retain him. It’s his. No, it’s always somebody else’s fault. It’s always somebody else’s fault with this stupid organization and we continue to do this stupid stuff with them. I was trying to throw my mic, but then I realized it’s on an arm. I need to throw things. Tyler, go find something. I know. I’m running out of stuff. Like, what do I have? Well, Tyler’s looking to throw something. Don’t throw anything too valuable. I mean, all those bobbleheads behind you. We wouldn’t want We wouldn’t want to set you back, Tyler, financially. It’s a hat. felt good. I think that was one of Bob Nodding’s hats, too. It’s just when he said when when he said that firing like getting rid of the general manager, I mean, he basically said, “That’s not what our fans want.” That’s essentially what he said. He was like, “Firing the general manager wouldn’t accomplish what our fans want.” And it’s like, “Oh, Travis, no. No. This This is bad. This is bad. Travis good on reading the room. That’s why they had the press conference today and announced that Ben Cherington was back because that’s what the fans want. This team’s very connected to their fans. That’s why there are surveys going out every offseason. Not every offseason, this past offseason to be like, “Guys, do you do you actually like us or or not?” So to put my simpleton hat on, you threw it. I guess I I can kind of understand like through his dumb brain on what he means about firing the GM because a new GM’s probably going to want to rebuild a little bit. You can maybe understand why that could maybe set you back. You know, someone might want to trade some guys off. You guys are in charge of hiring the damn GM. Find one that’s not going to set you back. Find one that wants to build on what you have. Here’s the task. And and then going back to that guy that wants to rebuild. You don’t have to. Dave Dumbrosski is like chomping at the bit for this type of a team right now. Like you can find you can find someone who wants to take this team and not have to totally rebuild. Like listen, the goal is to win next year. Go ahead. Yeah. If you’re someone who is a prospective general manager and you look I mean the Pirates are a fairly attractive job to be honest with you, like the pitching the pitching part’s done. Like you’ve got the pitching part handled. You got to go out there and make this team not terrible at hitting. I I didn’t say average. They don’t need to be average. The Cincinnati Reds just made the playoffs with a team weighted runs created plus of 92. The Reds were 8% below average as a group hitting. They’re also quite a bit worse pitching than the Pirates. Yeah. So, like you’re the Pirates. You don’t have to be you don’t even have to be average. You can be pretty well below average at this point and put together the best Pirates team since 2015. Mhm. I feel like a lot of people would be up for that challenge. Even with the payroll limitations that come with, you know, taking over a a small market team owned by Bob Nutting. It’s an attractive job because of the pitching staff. Yeah. But how are you going to get a guy with the track record like Ben Sherington and all the winning seasons? Well, you can’t live in your fears, Tyler. You can’t live in your fear that, you know, we might not win 76 next year. But I want to say here, yeah, like like what Jim’s talking about. I mean, it is like this is honestly a job that is quite beneficial. It’s right there. like this team. I know we there’s a lot of people that want to debate this, but honestly, this team is basically like two to three bats away to being something. If they’re legit bats, they’re they’re about two to three bats away from actually being a real contender and going into the playoffs. And if you’re a GM and you’re looking at this whole landscape and again like you have Paul SK, you have Connor coming up, you have a lot of toys at your expense and like this is a stepping tool for you. I come into the Pirates the as Noah Synagar says the shitty Pirates and I come in here and there’s been nothing but the laughingstock of baseball and you do 2013 the 15 once again I mean you see how media pray it’s all you hear right now is the Guardians like what they’re doing you know this come back to I’m saying like as much as the national media loves the Dodgers and the Yankees they love their small market toys they love that Cinderella story when the Pirates were good I mean they had the organization of the year baseball American gave it to me. You know, like nally they’re talking Cut is on the cover of LB the show. Like there is a lot of love for the small market team that does compete and is good. If you’re the GM that comes in here and just does that overnight, well, welcome to the Yankees organization in a few years or welcome to the Dodger. You know what I mean? Like this is a perfect stepping stone for somebody to come in. So yes, to your point, Jim, like this is a very attractive job. I just feel like it like it comes off as lazy almost like we just you know we don’t want to do that whole thing again like we don’t want to restart here let’s just let’s let it ride one more year complacency it’s fine one more year is fine and then we might have a lock out and we’ll reset after that it’s just a shame like I’m just so disappointed right now I mean I’m I’m angry But I’m also disappointed and and I have a very low opinion of Bob Nutting, but like it just keeps going lower and lower cuz like there’s one guy there’s only one guy who can who can change this and it’s him and like like he’s just showing that this is acceptable. There’s no accountability from the top down. Bob Nutting has made up his mind that you know what, we’re doing okay. And and I thought I thought this year was going to be different because I mean 2019 he pulled the trigger, you know, he I mean that was Bob. Bob pulled the trigger and was like this isn’t okay. And he pulled the trigger and I thought he was going to do it again. And the fact that he didn’t is extremely disheartening because it’s rough right now. Like I don’t I don’t know how you could have watched this season and and feel good. I don’t know how you feel good right now in every way on and off the field. And again, like that’s not even just a Ben thing. That’s a Travis thing. Yeah. Just every which way. I mean, this team, everything was a laughingstock every possible way in every facet outside of Paul Skins and the development of Connor Griffin. I feel like that was it. Even I mean, you had O’Neal Cruz set up on a platter. MLB loves Onel Cruz. They can’t wait to talk about Onel Cruz and On Cruz just turned into a pumpkin this year. Like there was nothing that was really good outside of Paul Skins, which really the talk about Paul Ske was I want him. Get him out of there. But there’s there’s still a positive message about Paul Ske. I mean, he’s still going to be Sai Young very likely, you know, like there’s still positive. And then Connor Griffin be the number one pro prospect in baseball and such. And like that’s really it. That’s all. Everything else has been nothing but bad stuff. And and going back to Bob Nutting, I mean, it’s absolutely true. Like he’s not I’m sorry. Like he’s just not a good businessman. You can sit back and say, “Well, I mean, he makes money like that. He’s a good businessman.” I just No. Baseball is essentially designed that everyone can make money. It you if you have a team, you’re going to make money if you operate the way Bob does. It doesn’t take much to do that. What a good businessman’s going to do is take this and turn into a positive. There’s not like one competitive bone in his like that’s something that just gets me like I can think about a good savvy business person. Like he wants to go out there and win. like they’re cutthroat, you know what I mean? Like how am I gonna win the day? How am I gonna seize the day? And Bob’s just like, “Should I get new khakis? Nah, I have to work for 15 years.” Nah. All right. Whose paper am I going to bankrupt today? That’s Bob. Like, there’s no competitive spirit in him at all. Like, he doesn’t care. And it shows because again like we’re talking about with with Ben and stuff like there’s there’s not any bone in him that’s like this isn’t good enough. This is unacceptable. It’s okay. We’ll just run it back. No, he said it was unacceptable. But it’s fine. Sure. Sure. Cuz someone broke that for him. Probably Travis. Yeah. You can’t say it’s unacceptable and then just run it back. Like that doesn’t work. That That’s not how it works. I just last year was unacceptable, too. And then they were supposed to be all accountable together. They were. That’s why Dererick’s gone and Ben’s still here. Everyone again. Can you guys think of another like just shifting off of Ben for a second, can you guys think of another team president that survives the type of year Travis Williams has had? Like we’re not even talking baseball wise. off the fieldwise has been a freaking joke. PR-wise, awful. And no, he it’s fine. They sent bricks in the mail, so we’re good. Everything’s fine now. Put a new bar in the outfield, so that’ll be cool. I just feel like allowed under to buy alcohol from I just feel anyone could have done a better job. like any just you’re an average person with any sort of experience in business. Like it doesn’t even have to be relevant. Like just any person, just your average person could have done a better job than Travis Williams. But that’s the guy who came from the Penguins. Yeah, he’s done this. Full stop. Period. He can handle this. He came here to win. He came here six years ago to win. And he knows what it takes. But he’s there every day, Dinardo, showing up, making sure that they do everything they can to win. But you’re being unfair because the switch has been off this whole time. As of today, September 29th, 2025, is the day the switch was turned to winning. They’ve been prepping for this day for six years. Now we are here and they have the resources. Well, they do. But it’s not going to come for free agency or anything like that. Third best odds and number one pick this year, baby. I want to throw things again. The only thing I can hope for right now is if I mean if you were if you were around for 2019, it was similar to this. there wasn’t the extension for the manager like there was like Clint Hurdle was gone and the sentiment was Neil Huntington’s coming back Frank Kunley’s coming back everyone’s coming back we’re just going to start the the search for a new manager and it wasn’t until like halfway through that search yeah it was yeah like four five more weeks that you know Bob finally pulled the trigger. So, the only hope I have at this point is like articles like the one that Noah wrote this morning in the Post Gazette. Like hopefully just there’s a lot more of that type of stuff. Hopefully hopefully the fans apply a ton of pressure right now. Hopefully the media applies a ton of pressure right now. Hopefully Bob like like that’s the the only hope we have right now is that Bob feels enough pressure over the next few weeks to correct the wrongs that were done today. I’m going to shoot you straight. I live in less than an hour from the park. I went to two games this year and they were both because all well two games at PNC because we were all there. I’m not going out of my way to go watch this team. Am not. Well, and I am more of a fan of this team than a lot of people. Judging by the attendance, not too many people are. And I’ll tell you right now, next year, I’m not going again. I don’t want to watch this in person. If we didn’t if I didn’t love baseball like I do and we didn’t do this, and honestly, just I love the Pirates. That’s who I am. But if I was more of a casual person, I’m done. I am not watching this anymore. I’m not watching till GM is implemented. I’m not doing it. I’m not wasting my time. I’m not doing it. And I don’t blame anybody. I wouldn’t do it either. Do what you want with your time. I wouldn’t watch them either. I don’t blame you. Watch us complain about them. Yeah. Don’t stop watching us. Yeah. Keep watching us. Don’t watch them. Look out for small businesses, people. Yeah. But um I mean like Jim said about you know putting pressure on I don’t feel like there’s the same talent out there to do this type of stuff. But if you really recall too, and he said it, the it was like the ticking point for for Bob was the MLB playoffs when all you heard was this X power did that, that X power did this, and he was just like, I’m sick of seeing all these guys leave and they’re doing incredible stuff with other teams. So I guess maybe the hope is ladies and gentlemen, be the biggest Cabrian Hayes fans you can be. Be the biggest Miguel Andor fans you can be. Be the biggest Tyler Heinaman MVP. World Series MVP Tyler Heinaman. There it is. Uh so actually so shout out to Ethan Fischer. I remember seeing this on his Twitter. So yeah, Arold Chapman, Justin Williams in Boston. Cleveland has Austin Hedges, Dom Nunees. Detroit has Tanner Annie. The Yankees again. Also the Yankees. David Bednar. Like what if Bedar just We need David Benar to just take over. Bedar just crushes it. We need Bedar closing out the World Series. Yes. Like all all four games. Yeah. Yeah. In the game. I need Renegade ringing through New York. I need New York. Right. Game seven versus Quinn Prester. There we go. So that’s if you want to do like that’s what you need to do. You need to be fans of these players right now. Quinn Per absolutely which he’s been doing it. Game seven Brewers. Quinn Per shoves. It’s a one- nothing ball game. Yankees have the lead and David Bendar closes out game seven to renegade. Yeah, we need that at this point. It’s It’ll make my life hell, but we need it. I’ll take any like honestly winning games in August and September at this point was terrible for us cuz maybe that just gave you it might not have. I don’t know. I don’t think it m like I mean they this team was pretty bad in September. Yeah. Yeah, like I I have a feeling this decision this decision was made a while ago and it didn’t matter because they they were worse. Like they were still worse. They lost five more games this year than last year. Like it it I don’t I don’t get it. I don’t get it. You know what also too? Oh, never mind. Never mind. I just It was close though. I was going to say that they they I felt like they won less games this year than they did in 19, but no, 19 they won 69 games. This year was 71. But yeah, you know what really sucks here? More than like 41 minutes in the show. I don’t know. Tell us now, Tyler. What What does suck? What really really sucks is next year’s going to be our last year with Paul Skins because the GM’s getting Ben Sharon is getting fired after next year. They’re not going to be competitive. They’re not winning. They’re not going to the playoffs. They’re not going to be above 500 because this guy can’t prove to anyone that he knows how to find anyone useful who can hit a freaking baseball and he won’t because he’s an idiot. Paul is going to get traded. We’re going to the lockout and then we’re rebuilding again. Even if we don’t go to a lockout, we’re getting a new GM. Paul SK has a good chance of getting traded and we’re restarting again. So that is my fear with this because if Ben is who we think he is an idiot. You can’t do this. I mean I know we said this for two years now but you really can’t do this again next year if this happens. Right. Like Ben can’t retain his job next year if you have this type of season again. Right. I mean right? Like really really really again? We could do this again. But you roll back here right? Imagine if you fire him next year because it was also just a bad season because he can’t general manage a team. You’re now heading into 2027. And yes, in 2027, Dennis Santana’s gone. This is his last year. Into 2027, that’s going to be Ovito’s last year and Bart’s last year if Bart stays. The next year after that, it is O’Neal Cruz’s last year. And then it’s Paul Skins, Karma Jinsky, Jared Jones, Nick Gonzalez, and Mitch Keller if he’s still here or not also. So, so yeah, ultimately like you imagine like those guys aren’t here for their last year. They’re trade at least before then. So like the last year of a lot of these people is 2028. So if you’re going into 2027 with a new GM and those guys probably looking at 2028, the last I don’t know is the GM trading stink. Anyways, like you said, well, not Paul, but I’m saying like is Paul O’Neal Cruz is going to be gone? Like you’re trading Paul’s not going anywhere until 2028 at the earliest. Yeah, but if they get a new GM after next year, anything can happen. You could look at a semi-rebuild after 2027 if it doesn’t go well. And I think I mean I think Mitch Keller’s gone. I think that’s probably the plan this off season. And and we’ll we’ll have plenty of stuff to talk about this off seasonason, but it’s just depressing. Depressing. I hate my life. That’s it. Status quo. Just keep it going. No urgency even though they talk about urgency. No accountability even though they talk about accountability. We have extensions and reassurance. That’s what we have after 91 losses in year six. Extensions and reassurance. Hate my life. We want to get out of here. Yeah, I’m done. I I’ll say bad words if I stay on here. We out then. Hopefully this was uh at least cathartic for for everyone. Um it was a rough day. It was a rough It was a rough day to be a Pirates fan. I’ll say that. Like we just went through a pretty grueling season and you got hit with a lot. Got hit with a lot today. So best wishes to everybody. have a great off season. We’ll be back. Follow us, please. Don’t leave us. Wednesday, we’ll have plenty to talk about, I’m sure. Um, yeah. Actually, we need to kind of go through we can re we can recap the whole season on on Wednesday. But yeah, rough start to the off seasonason, that’s for sure. Mhm. And like it’s not even the offseason. It’s not even October yet. So, we’re out of here. All right, everyone. Thank you. We’ll see you guys again. Go ahead and like the video, subscribe, keep your bells on. Peace out, Girl Scout. Jim saying something. I see it in his face. If you are watching postseason baseball, if you are watching postseason baseball, um FanDuel’s got you covered for all of your your postseason betting needs. We’ll let you know if you uh send us a message. We’ll tell you what Ryan’s betting on. Yeah. No more no more hints from Ryan to know to know what to bet for or against, right? But you got to got to like the video for us to give you the answer. That’s all. Yeah. All right, we’re out. We’ll see you guys on Wednesday. Byebye. See you guys. All right, that wraps up this episode of Northshore 9. Thanks so much for tuning in. Whether you’re listening on the podcast or catching us on YouTube, if you enjoyed the show, please give this video a thumbs up and don’t forget to hit that subscribe button if you haven’t already. It really helps us grow. And if you’re listening on the podcast, a quick review goes a long way in helping others find the show. Plus, be sure to tell a friend about us. There’s always room for more here in the NS9 community. And for those looking to support us a little more, consider joining our Patreon. Become an MVP member and get exclusive perks while helping us continue to bring you more of the Pirates content you love. Thanks again for all your support, and let’s go Bucks. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Yeah. Heat. [Music]

Today, Don Kelly and the Pittsburgh Pirates agreed to an extension bringing him back as the skipper of the 2026 Pirates. It was also announced immediately after his press conference that General Manager Ben Cherington has been reassured that he will return for the 2026 season.

Seems like not much change is happening among the front office immediately after the Pirates finished with 91 losses. Thoughts?

The NS9 Postgame Show Powered By Primanti Bros. discuss today’s Pittsburgh Pirates game vs. the Chicago Cubs

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