When Jim Emmerling found out the Pittsburgh Pirates fired manager Derek Shelton on Thursday, he was elated.
“I’ve been asking for this,” he said. “The last six years have been the worst baseball I can remember.”
Shelton was replaced by bench coach Don Kelly as the team languishes in last place in the NL Central.
Emmerling, 62, of Steubenville, Ohio, grew up in New Kensington and attended Valley High School. He has been a Pirates season ticket holder for more than 30 years, and said he personally knows the family of Pirates owner Bob Nutting.
“I’m extremely vested in this organization,” he said. “I go to no less than 50 Pirates games a year. … I’ve had the same seat (behind home plate).”
Though Emmerling was happy to hear about Sheton’s firing, he said it’s just a start of changes that the Pirates need to make. Most people interviewed by TribLive reporters Thursday shared similar opinions about Shelton and the organization.
“I’d hate to see anybody lose their job, but if you or I perform at our jobs the way that he did, we would’ve been fired a long time ago,” he said. “I don’t think he was a good manager. Decision-making on players (was) not very good.”
In Emmerling’s opinion, Pirates president Travis Williams is to blame.
“He’s been awful. He’s a pr nightmare,” he said.
Despite the change, Emmerling believes the hole the Pirates are in this season is too deep to escape.
“I went into the season with no expectations, and they exceeded those, which is impossible to do if you have none,” he said. “But, if personnel is used differently … that will improve.”
He is interested in seeing how Kelly fares. Kelly played baseball at Mt. Lebanon and Point Park.
“I’m curious to see what the reaction’s going to be tomorrow because Kelly is a Pittsburgh guy, and I think people will give him a chance,” Emmerling said. “He can’t be worse, but I think it was so needed it’s not even funny.”
Supporting a losing team
Rick Rosenthal was raised a New York Yankees fan.
Still, the Harrison resident roots for the Pirates, despite the team’s string of losing years.
“Is it really going to change anything with Shelton gone?” Rosenthal asked. “There’s so many things wrong with the team.”
The real problem, he said, is ownership.
Rosenthal’s family attended an opening-week game where fans already were chanting about selling the team.
“We would have to go top to bottom to really fix things,” he said.
Frank DeKleva doesn’t blame the Pirates’ excruciating record on Shelton. The players weren’t producing well at the plate, said DeKleva, of Shaler. Their play in the field isn’t up to par either, he said.
But taking the blame goes with the territory of being a major league manager, he said.
“The buck has to stop somewhere,” DeKleva said.
He feels the losing streak will continue until the organization invests more money in players.
“The owners are making tons of money,” he said. “They don’t care. We get a good guy, we train him and we trade him. That’s the way it goes.”
Thomas Pieza, 79, of Lower Burrell, said he felt bad for Shelton when he heard the news of his firing.
“I feel like they should have waited until the end of the season to let him go instead of (doing it) now,” Pieza said.
He said he’s not sure how getting rid of Shelton will help the team perform better or improve the overall record.
“He’s a manager. He’s not the players. He just puts the best players they have out there,” Pieza said.
The Pirates’ decision to fire Shelton after the disastrous start to the season did not surprise Mike Gilmore of Greensburg.
“It’s about time. He had no winning seasons,” Gilmore said. “It’s time to move on.”
Joe Seneca of South Greensburg was more forgiving of Shelton for his part in the Pirates’ poor performance this year.
“I don’t blame it all on Shelton ‘cause the Pirates won’t spend the money,” Seneca said, referring to the Pirates typically having one of the lowest payrolls in the major leagues.
“(Pitcher Paul) Skenes won’t stay,” when his contract expires because the Pirates won’t spend the money to keep him, nor will Nutting spend the money to field a better team around the budding superstar.
Unsurprising news
Brook Stockberger was born and raised in Latrobe and now lives in Las Cruces, N.M.
“I wasn’t real surprised,” said Stockberger, 52, when he heard about the firing. “I kind of expected it to happen.”
Even though the Pirates are losing, he and his son have the MLB package on TV just so they can watch the team play.
“We’ve been very disappointed lately,” Stockberger said. “The talent isn’t too bad, but I do believe sometimes that shakeup is what’s needed.”
He said he is excited for Kelly to step into the manager’s role because he is younger, and he’s a local guy. He also likes that Kelly has bench coaching experience.
“They sort of oversee the players,” Stockberger said. “I think that helps them to be sort of a better manager when time comes.”
Overall, he believes the change will be positive for the Pirates moving forward.
“I’m going to be an optimist,” Stockberger said. “I think a different perspective is sometimes what’s needed. Maybe he’ll sort of inject a different attitude.”
