{"id":16350,"date":"2025-05-10T16:27:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T16:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/16350\/"},"modified":"2025-05-10T16:27:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T16:27:09","slug":"pirates-notes-shelton-haddad-cherington-nutting-valdez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/16350\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirates Notes: Shelton, Haddad, Cherington, Nutting, Valdez"},"content":{"rendered":"

9:30AM: The 2025 season marked the final year of Shelton\u2019s contract as manager, Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<\/a> reports.\u00a0 The terms of the extension Shelton signed in April 2023<\/a> weren\u2019t made public, though the 2023 season was known to be the final year of the four-year contract Shelton initially signed when he was first hired as skipper.<\/p>\n

Hiles didn\u2019t mention whether or not any club options were attached to Shelton\u2019s deal beyond 2025, so it seems as though Shelton may have been in a true lame-duck situation heading into this season.\u00a0 This only adds to the perception that Shelton\u2019s managerial tenure was on thin ice, and Hiles noted that it became increasingly clear during the season that Shelton would be replaced.\u00a0 \u201cNumerous members within the Pirates organization, including a few within the clubhouse, privately acknowledged as much to the Post-Gazette in the days leading up to his dismissal,\u201d Hiles writes.<\/p>\n

8:45AM: The Pirates\u2019 managerial change<\/a> naturally drew most of the headlines on Thursday, but in addition to letting go of Derek Shelton, the Bucs also moved on from another member of the coaching staff.\u00a0 The New York Post\u2019s Jon Heyman<\/a> reports that Pittsburgh parted ways with Radley Haddad, who had been a game-planning and strategy coach with the team since November 2021.<\/p>\n

Haddad (who turns 35 tomorrow) is a former minor league player in the Yankees organization who wrapped up his playing career following the 2016 season.\u00a0 He then moved into a new role as the Yankees\u2019 big league bullpen catcher, as well as a coaching assistant.\u00a0 Haddad worked in that capacity until he was hired away by the Pirates following the 2021 campaign.<\/p>\n

Between Haddad\u2019s departure and Don Kelly<\/a>\u2019s promotion from bench coach to manager, the Pirates now have two openings to fill on the staff.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t known if any other coaching changes may yet be in the offing, as the Bucs continue to figure out how to adjust on the fly amidst a disappointing season.\u00a0 Kelly\u2019s managerial debut was at least a success, as the Buccos\u2019 3-2 win over the Braves last night ended Pittsburgh\u2019s seven-game losing streak, though the club still has only a dismal 13-26 record.<\/p>\n

Larger-scale changes don\u2019t appear to be coming at least in the near future, as Pirates owner Robert Nutting told Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<\/a> that GM Ben Cherington and president Travis Williams aren\u2019t going anywhere for the time being.\u00a0 \u201cI think if we make a broad, real restructure of the organization midseason, right now, we will not improve the team for 2025.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that makes us better,\u201d Nutting said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not willing to give up on what we expected, which involves a significantly better performance than you\u2019ve seen.\u00a0 I believe we can get to that.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that blowing everything up 38 games into the year is gonna help us do that.\u00a0 I think that would be distracting.\u00a0 I think that would get us off track. My focus has to be on getting this fixed and getting it fixed as fast as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Left unsaid was the possibility that Nutting might explore a wider \u201crestructure\u201d down the road if the Pirates don\u2019t start playing better baseball.\u00a0 Cherington was hired in November 2019 to oversee a major rebuilding process that has brought some premium talent onto the roster, yet the Bucs haven\u2019t delivered a single winning season in Cherington\u2019s five-plus years in charge of baseball operations.<\/p>\n

The situation has left the Pittsburgh fanbase openly dismayed and it is clear that both Nutting and Cherington share in those frustrations.\u00a0 Cherington took his share of the blame when speaking with reporters (including Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review<\/a>) on Thursday, acknowledging that \u201cI\u2019m more responsible than anyone\u201d for the Pirates\u2019 struggles.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly not lost on me that my part of that accountability, if I had done my job perfectly for five years, might not be meeting with you today,\u201d Cherington said.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s certainly possible.\u00a0 I own that completely.\u00a0 This is not all on Shelty.\u00a0 And I believe that it became clear to me that this was a choice, however difficult, that we needed to make.\u00a0 I certainly feel accountable going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cherington also reiterated that he feels he is still the person to be leading the front office going forward.\u00a0 Likewise, Nutting defended his own continued ownership of the franchise, stating that he feels the team can and will win again under his stewardship, and feels he can elevate the Pirates\u2019 place in the sport as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven all of the challenges broadly in baseball, there\u2019s been a lot of discussion of the economic disparity in the game. We\u2019re never going to use that as an excuse.\u00a0 Never have.\u00a0 Never will.\u00a0 But I think I\u2019m particularly well positioned right now to be able to help influence change in the economics of the game,\u201d Nutting said.\u00a0 \u201cHaving been around for 20 years, having gone to owners\u2019 meetings for longer than that, having a very strong relationship with the commissioner\u2019s office, I believe that I\u2019m uniquely well positioned to have a louder voice for Pittsburgh as we\u2019re heading into the next [collective bargaining agreement].\u00a0 I want to make sure that we don\u2019t lose that position.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think a new owner in Pittsburgh would have the same standing or ability to advocate for the kind of changes that we need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pirates fans can understandably take some skepticism in Nutting\u2019s remarks, and Mackey indeed expressed something of a counterpoint to Nutting\u2019s interview in a follow-up column<\/a>.\u00a0 The owner has been frequently criticized for a lack of spending since he bought the team in 2007.\u00a0 The Pirates have ranked in the bottom five in Opening Day payrolls in all but three seasons of Nutting\u2019s ownership, and the payroll high-water mark remains the Bucs\u2019 $99.9MM payroll at the start of the 2016 season (which ranked 20th out of 30 teams).\u00a0 As much as Nutting feels his team is at a financial disadvantage against baseball\u2019s bigger markets, the Pirates\u2019 resistance against even moderate spending is an obvious impediment to their desire to become more competitive.<\/p>\n

In a bit of on-field news from Friday, the Pirates placed infielder Enmanuel Valdez<\/a> on the 10-day injured list due to left shoulder inflammation, and recalled infielder\/outfielder Ji Hwan Bae<\/a> from Triple-A in the corresponding move.\u00a0 A timeline wasn\u2019t given for Valdez, or whether or not he is expected to miss any time beyond the minimum 10 days.<\/p>\n

Acquired in a trade with the Red Sox in December, Valdez has hit .209\/.294\/.363 over 102 plate appearances for the Buccos this season.\u00a0 Valdez had primarily been a middle infielder with the Sox, but his 26 appearances at first base for the Pirates represent a marked change in his usage, as Valdez\u2019s previous experience at the position consisted of just nine minor league games during his time in the Boston and Houston farm systems.<\/p>\n

Since intended first baseman Spencer Horwitz<\/a> has yet to play this season, the Pirates turned to Endy Rodriguez<\/a> at first base, and then looked at Valdez as a further backup plan once Rodriguez also hit the 10-day IL.\u00a0 Rodriguez is still a ways away from returning from a right finger laceration, so Jared Triolo<\/a> and Matt Gorski<\/a> now stand as the top first-base options in the interim.\u00a0 Horwitz has started a Triple-A rehab assignment and might be a week or so away from his 2025 debut, though Valdez\u2019s injury will leave the Pirates even thinner at the position in the short term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"9:30AM: The 2025 season marked the final year of Shelton\u2019s contract as manager, Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2402],"tags":[5,6547,1148,7715,4,10,776,64,4297,8164],"class_list":{"0":"post-16350","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-pirates","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-ben-cherington","10":"tag-enmanuel-valdez","11":"tag-ji-hwan-bae","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-pirates","14":"tag-pittsburgh","15":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","16":"tag-pittsburghpirates","17":"tag-radley-haddad"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}