From the start of spring training, Derek Shelton set an expectation for the Pittsburgh Pirates this season. It was a simple and straightforward message to deliver, one that’s harder to accomplish.
“It’s time to win,” Shelton told TribLive. “That’s the only focus.”
The Pirates followed back-to-back 100-loss seasons in 2021-22 with successive 76-win seasons in 2023-24. So, the next step is to produce their first winning season since 2018 — and Shelton swears to be as energized as he’s been since being hired as Pirates manager.
The franchise has had only seven seasons with a winning record since 1990, so such talk is often met with skepticism by long-suffering Pittsburgh baseball fans. They point to the $19.925 million the Pirates spent in free agency and a projected payroll of $90,353,500 as a lack of commitment toward winning from owner Bob Nutting.
That hasn’t stopped the Pirates from setting their sights on the playoffs.
“I think that’s how it should be. We should talk about winning,” Pirates All-Star outfielder Bryan Reynolds said. “That should be the main thing every single day. We’ve had a good mindset with that, coming in and working on what’s going to help us in the season win games.”
Shelton enters his sixth season on the hot seat. His tenure started with the worst record in baseball (19-41) during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. That was followed by a total teardown, generating gaffes that would make a Little Leaguer blush.
It also produced the best start in the National League in 2023, when the Pirates were 20-9 at the end of April. A year later, they entered August above .500 and within wild-card contention before plummeting into last place in a colossal collapse. So the Pirates have had a taste of winning. They just haven’t figured out how to sustain success into September.
“He’s definitely been talking more about the now, winning now and that sense of urgency,” Reynolds said. “I think that’s big for us. Nothing wildly different but pointed.”
The difference in Shelton’s message is not in the demand but the delivery. He had the same hopes last year, when the Pirates were coming off season with a 14-win improvement. Where the Pirates wanted to win, they spent the spring working on doing what it takes to win.
“What we’re learning is, it’s one thing to talk about it; it’s another to actually put the work in to have the confidence to know that you can do it,” said Pirates designated hitter Andrew McCutchen, a five-time All-Star and 2013 NL MVP who was the catalyst for their last postseason team in ‘15. “Last year, that’s what it was about: Winning, winning, winning. Win now. With that probably became a little bit of pressure and not necessarily the preparation for that.”
What McCutchen saw this spring was more about the intent than the idea of winning. With Shelton steering the conversation toward winning in the margins, the Pirates focused on improving the finer points.
In 6-foot-6 right-hander Paul Skenes, the NL rookie of the year who finished third in Cy Young voting, the Pirates have a bona fide superstar atop their starting rotation. In 6-foot-7 converted center fielder Oneil Cruz, they have a player with five-tool talent who has yet to realize his full potential. In third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa and utility player Jared Triolo, they have three Gold Glove winners. In Reynolds, they have a two-time All-Star in his prime.
But the Pirates know they won’t win unless they do it together.
“I think we’re close in the sense that the product is there,” McCutchen said. “It’s just a matter of that product all working together collectively to win. It’s there. We’ve got the pieces to the puzzle. We’ve just got to fill in those spots and create a picture of it.”
Shelton spent the offseason in self-evaluation, wondering how a team that positioned itself to become buyers at the trade deadline could self-destruct within days. He reflected on a 15-game stretch, reviewing every decision he made and consulted with veteran managers on what he could and should have done differently.
On Aug. 1, the Pirates were 55-52, six games out of first place in the NL Central and 2 ½ games back in wild-card standings. By Aug. 18, they had lost 12 of 15 games — including seven losses by one run and two in extra innings — and were in last place in the division.
“There’s nothing more exciting, if you take from the end of the All-Star break to Aug. 1, the electricity in the city, the electricity in the ballpark,” Shelton said. “That’s what we’re striving for. That’s the energy we want every night, not only from our players but from our fans because there was so much energy at PNC (Park). Then we went through that 15-game stretch. If you look back at that 15-game stretch and you go .500 in that, you come out of it and you’re in the middle of the pennant race.
Featured Local Businesses
“That’s the place where we need to get better. That’s the place where I need to get better. It’s like a lot of my reflection this winter has been on that 15-game stretch, what we should have done differently, what I could have done differently and how we could have handled it differently. If you take away 15 days last year, we’re in a pretty good spot. It’s just those 15 days were really bad. There’s no one that’s thought harder about those 15 days and the decisions that were made than I have.”
Kiner-Falefa was thrilled to be traded from the Toronto Blue Jays, who were in last place in the AL East, to a team that was in playoff contention. He had hopes that the Pirates could challenge for a postseason run, only to endure a 10-game losing streak that included three consecutive series sweeps against the San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers and Padres again.
“That 10-game slide really changed the culture, really changed how we viewed ourselves in the clubhouse,” Kiner-Falefa said. “I still believe everything I said last year. I still believe we can win a lot of games. It’s going to be up to us to find a way to score one more run than the other team. That’s what it’s going to take, building a culture where we can really succeed and really back our pitching.”
Skenes, Mitch Keller, Jared Jones and lefty Bailey Falter combined for 49 quality starts last season, though the bullpen had 29 blown saves. The Pirates signed six veterans in free agency who all have postseason experience with multiple teams, including left-handers in starter Andrew Heaney and relievers Caleb Ferguson and Tim Mayza.
“We know our pitching is our strong suit, so we have to do things that are unordinary, different than what other teams do. That’s just how we’re built,” Kiner-Falefa said. “We have to take that mentality, embrace it and out-grind teams. We have to work harder than other teams and do the little things that can help our pitchers out. We don’t have the big slugs like other teams do but we have other ways to beat you.”
That starts with focusing on the fundamentals, which are the key for the Pirates. If they learn to play with precision whether they are winning or losing, McCutchen insists, they won’t put extra pressure on themselves and make costly mistakes in close games.
“It’s putting an emphasis on intent and execution, and winning happens,” McCutchen said. “With us, the sole focus isn’t on winning. The sole focus is on intent and execution. That’s your sole focus, and the byproduct of that is winning. … Those close games, we’ve got to win. When you put winning in there, that’s when it becomes a thing of when you put your foot on the gas, the car goes.”
Skenes set the tone by talking about how he needs to lead by example and believing that there’s a buy-in by his teammates. He was downright dismissive of the Pirates’ lack of postseason success in the PNC Park, saying he is “tired of hearing about the freaking wild-card game, I’ll say that. That is such a low bar to set.”
That’s why the Pirates are starting the season with high standards, spending less time talking about winning and more on doing the things that will allow them to deliver that accomplishment.
“It probably comes back to expecting to win, so when you’re in those situations where you’re in in tight like that you don’t freak out and hit the panic button,” Reynolds said. “I’m not saying we did that, but if every day you’re expecting to win, technically, no games should be added pressure versus other games. If we get that mindset and stay with that mindset from the start, we’ll be where we need to be.”