Saturday provided a side of Derek Shelton never seen before.
With the worst of the Pirates' hopefully behind them, Shelton is still viewed as the right man for the job as Ben Cherington announced Saturday that the team and Shelton have come to terms on a contract extension. Specific terms of the deal were not shared other than it extends beyond the 2023 season.
In talking about the news of the extension with the media, all while members of his coaching staff lined the back of the interview room in support of their skipper, Shelton had a difficult time finding words to why this means so much to him.
"Yeah. I mean, it’s uh … yeah. I don’t think I realized it until now, but yeah," Shelton said regarding the contract extension. "I walk in and they’re all back there. I mean, it’s for your family. You work your ass off to get this job. Yeah, it’s emotional. It means the world to me."
Reading it is one thing. Go to the 6:26 mark and watch just how much this means to Shelton:
There's no question the Pirates have a manager that's totally invested in what they're doing.
"It was important to both of us that we talked about this in the context of what we both want to accomplish together going forward and what we both need to invest in to continue to help the Pirates get better, win at the highest possible level and be able to sustain that," Cherington said. "I am very excited to have a chance to continue to work with him. Really believe he's the right person for the job.
"He's worked tirelessly for over three years to help put us in a stronger position to win. All the work that goes into building our culture, the way we prepare for games. the way we treat each other, the relationships that we've built. I think we're starting to see the fruits of that labor. And importantly, we both need to continue to work so hard together to continue that progress. I'm thrilled to be working with him, and our entire major-league staff, and excited about all that we can accomplish going forward."
Shelton entered the season on the final year of his initial contract, though talks for a new deal began in spring training.
It was about that time back in spring training when owner Bob Nutting gave a big vote of confidence for the direction the organization was heading under Shelton and Cherington.
"This past week, they had a chance to talk to players, coaches, engage with the multi-disciplinary pitching staff," Nutting told DK Pittsburgh Sports in Bradenton, Fla.. "The squad or team they put together to address hitting. Had a little bit of a chance to appreciate the incredible amount of work preparation that went into this offseason, and how enormously better this offseason was than last year when we had all the limitations of the strike period. We’re just light years ahead of where we’ve been. I think we’re just beginning to see the real impact in terms of culture, in terms of preparation, in terms of process."
Last August, Cherington shut down any discussions of if Shelton would be on the hot seat as the team was on the path to their second straight 100-loss season, saying that Shelton would return. Cherington and Shelton were hired weeks apart during the 2019 offseason and have been the faces of the team's rebuild.
Shelton posted a 142-242 through his first three years as the Pirates' manager, a stretch that resulted in them finishing at least tied for last each year. He did come on with the understanding that this team was going to embark on a multi-year rebuild, and that he would be evaluated, at least for the first few years, in ways that extend beyond wins and losses. That included building a better clubhouse culture and being developmentally focused, areas where he and the coaching staff have done well.
"There's no doubt, as we both talked about before, there were difficult days in there," Cherington said. "2020 was just strange, but through '21 and '22, difficult days. I think we knew there would be difficult days, but it doesn't make it any easier when you get into them. Certainly, part of my faith and confidence in him was watching how he responded to that. Hopefully, we helped each other through it a bit. He always responded with determination, with a fresh, positive outlook, a focus on the controllable, what we can control, going forward. I've learned from him. Hopefully he's learned from me. We continue to learn from each other and just focus on continuing to get better."
Getting better is all Shelton is focused on. It's been difficult for those on the outside to see through the back-to-back 100-loss seasons, but Shelton has an emboldened commitment to his staff and his players to make sure the plan in place is seen through. Shelton is very appreciative that Nutting, Travis Williams and Cherington are willing to stick with Shelton as they continue along the path put in place from the beginning.
Shelton also recognizes that the pressure doesn't let up because of the extension. In fact, it's the opposite. The pressure is on to produce results.
"I think we just continue to do what we’re doing," Shelton said. "We’ve worked really hard over three years. We’ve made some difficult trades, we’ve acquired some people, we’ve taken our lumps. The fact that, organizationally, the commitment to how we’ve gone about the plan that Ben put in place four years ago is working. We need to continue to focus every day to get better. That’s what we’re doing. We’ve seen players get better. We’ve seen players come through our system and we’ve acquired veteran players this year. I think the most important thing is the faith in what we’re doing and how we’re doing it is important."
He entered this year with an improved roster, featuring more veteran players and some prospects who have started to carve out a major-league identity, and the Pirates started the year with a 14-7 record, their best mark through 21 games since 1992. However, Cherington was clear that the decision to extend Shelton "was bigger than any winning streak."
"The early success in the season really didn't (play a role) at all," Cherington said. "This conversation started in spring training. Even over the course of the offseason, we were very focused on the things that we needed to do together to get better. If we did that, then spring training might be a time to start talking about a contract. As these things go, there's a lot of other stuff going on and it take a few days to get the Is dotted and the Ts crossed. We probably had it done six or seven days ago."