The Pittsburgh Pirates signed Derek Shelton as the team’s new manager. General manager Ben Cherington made the announcement last Wednesday. Shelton replaced Clint Hurdle, whom the Pirated fired in September after spending nine years with the Pirates.
The Pirates will introduce Shelton at PNC Park on December 4. Although he worked in different coaching positions since 2005, it is his first time to become a manager of a major league team. He used to be the manager of the Yankees’ farm team. Also, he spent the last two seasons as the bench coach of the Twins.
Derek Shelton will have much work to do in Pittsburgh. He is taking over a team that got a 69-93 record last season. As a result, they were last in the standings of the National League Central. Also, he has to deal with some in-fighting among players and staff members.
Derek Shelton and the Problematic Pirates
During the second half of the season, the Pirates went 28-48. Trouble in the clubhouse starting brewing in the clubhouse. Reliever Keone Kela had a verbal fight with a staffer resulting in a two-game suspension. Also, making MLB news headlines was the fight between bullpen coach Euky Rojas and reliever Kyle Crick.
Crick got into another fight in September. This time it was with closer Felipe Vazquez. Crick suffered a finger injury that required surgery. A couple of days after, authorities arrested Vazquez on charges of child sex. He remains in prison to date, according to a pay per head blog.
Sheldon needs to clean up the Pirates’ clubhouse. The in-fighting led to the firing of Clint Hurdle. Also, it played a role in the firing of Neal Huntington as general manager. Pay per head archives reported that Huntington was GM of the Pirates for 12 years.
The best sportsbook pay per head found out that Shelton understands what needs to be done. His first order of business is to bring unity among players and staff.