The firing of Derek Shelton and hiring of Don Kelly was designed to be a turning point in the 2025 season. It was sold as a necessary change in leadership and a pivot in direction. In reality, it has only served to prove a damning truth about the 2025 Pittsburgh Pirates: The identity of the field manager is irrelevant.
Any debate over “Shelty Ball” versus “Donnie Ball” is a fool’s errand. It is a calculated distraction from the foundational rot that ensures any manager, regardless of his temperament or tactics, is destined for the same fate. The problem is the flawed organizational philosophy they have been forced to implement.
Illusion of Change
On the surface, there are, of course, differences. Don Kelly brings a fire and a willingness to argue that was absent from Derek Shelton’s often lifeless dugout. Shelton seemed rigidly shackled to a pre-set analytical plan, while Kelly gives the impression of more flexibility.
These are differences in personality, not paradigm. They are cosmetic adjustments to a fundamentally broken machine. Praising Kelly’s fire while the team continues to lose is like admiring the new paint job on a car with a blown engine. It might look better, but it still won’t get you anywhere.
Impossible Job
The central issue is that the Pirates front office tasks its manager with an impossible job. Their primary function is not to maximize the unique talents of the players on the roster, but to force every single one of them into a rigid, predetermined system.
This is the core of the failure. The organization’s overall hitting philosophy, which prizes a passive approach, does not adapt to the players. The players are expected to contort themselves to fit the philosophy. If every player had the exact skillset and adaptability to thrive in this specific system, the results might be different. But they don’t. That is not how baseball works. By refusing to tailor the approach to the talent they actually have, the front office sets both the players and the manager up to fail.
Verdict in the Standings
The evidence is clear in the only place that matters, and that’s the win-loss column.
Before he was fired, Derek Shelton’s record was 12-26. Since taking over, Don Kelly has gone 27-35.
This is not a meaningful improvement. Even with a new personality in the dugout and arguably better player health, the team is even further under .500 than when they let Shelton go. This is the ultimate indictment. When you change a major variable and get the exact same result, it proves the variable was never the problem. The flawed system and the inadequate roster has always been the determining factor.
It is time to stop rearranging the deck chairs. The Pirates don’t have a manager problem. They have a philosophy problem, and until the architects of that philosophy are held accountable, the man in the dugout will remain little more than a convenient, and ultimately meaningless, scapegoat.