DK: Do right by Skenes, Kelly by firing Cherington ... now
I know what Paul Skenes told me. I trust and respect it.
I also know what I wanted him to tell me.
Because there he was immediately after the final out of the Pirates' 1-0 loss to the Phillies today here at Citizens Bank Park, up at the dugout railing, the lower part of his face buried in his right forearm, eyes staring toward the happy home team shaking hands. And this after eight extraordinary innings in which he'd held one of Major League Baseball's most lethal lineups to one cheesy run on three cheesy hits while striking out nine.
Take a look:
That scene made it onto the NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast on this side of the commonwealth. And from there, of course, all over social media.
I asked Skenes afterward, away from the assembled media, what might've been moving through his mind in that moment, and he replied, "I think, when it's that close to the outing, I'm really just trying to process my outing. It was a lot more about that because, at the end of the day, we can only control what we can control. So that was it, just kinda thinking through the good and the bad, which normally I would have two or three innings to do up here. Kinda had an inning or so to do it down there today. That was really it."
To repeat, I trust and respect that. I've seen him do exactly what he described in dugouts after he's out of a game. This one just happened to be his first official complete game in the majors, so it came closer to the finish.
But again, man ... just imagine.
I don't get the sense he'll ever do it -- total team player, military background, all that -- but just imagine that he'd someday feel fed up. That he'd stand up and say so. That he'd make it public and plain that, if the Pirates don't care about what he could bring to a competitive team, if they're cool with all this losing, with this laughable offense ... hey, get me out of here.
Think Bob Nutting might fire his whole front office within, like, five minutes?
Beginning with Ben Cherington, who's as good as gone after this season regardless?
Imagine if it'd matter to Nutting, with sufficient urgency, that he's still employing the general manager who's bungled every conceivable category of organization-building, but mostly in the form of the lowest-scoring offense in the majors, one that hasn't topped four runs in a worst-in-the-franchise's-144-year-history 23 consecutive games, the second such streak by anyone in the past half-century:
That's Ke'Bryan Hayes rolling over a meatball of a slider to kill a first-inning rally against some kid making his big-league debut on an emergency basis. In 177 plate appearances, he has six extra-base hits and 15 RBIs. He batted cleanup the other night.
That's Henry Davis, a No. 1 overall pick now 25 years old, hacking through a smart hit-and-run call by Kelly that had Isiah Kiner-Falefa out by a mile at second base.
That's Adam Frazier bunting a boomeranger to the mound for a casual forceout at third.
That's a bad bunch of offensive baseball that doesn't even illustrate any of the 14 -- FOURTEEN! -- strikeouts, including all four of Oneil Cruz's flailing at-bats. And that’s the cumulative result of a half-decade of bad acquisitions, bad development, bad everything.
Imagine if it'd matter to Nutting, with sufficient urgency, that there are those within the baseball industry who saw this offensive collapse coming for years, through negligible/misguided development in the minors. Same patterns. Same problems.
Imagine if it'd matter to Nutting, with sufficient urgency, that every single day he keeps Cherington aboard is another day that Don Kelly, an inspired choice to be this team's manager for the foreseeable future, will be bound to meet resistance to making the changes he'll see as necessary. Even if Cherington says yes out of obligation.
To put this another way: Can anyone picture the reality in which Cherington's OK with Kelly reaching out to tap 78-year-old Gene Lamont to be his de facto bench coach? In Cherington's world that's founded on the white-collared army of advance analytics?
Didn't think so.
Imagine if it'd matter to Nutting, with sufficient urgency, that every single day he keeps Cherington aboard is another day that the players wearing the uniform will wonder what the hell's going on. It's not as if they aren't aware of the broader scenario. New or old, they see, they hear, they read. And if they know the GM's a dead man walking, then they also know that, no matter how hard Kelly tries to set the right tone, the season's equally dead.
A clean start doesn't have to mean finding a permanent GM right away. Kevan Graves can handle such duties on an interim basis -- he did so in 2019 when Neal Huntington was fired -- and he's been part of the front office for as long as Nutting's been owner, since 2007. And heck, Cherington again assigned Graves to take his place this morning on the weekly general manager's radio show, a Pittsburgh staple since the legendary Joe L. Brown, and a task Cherington's been avoiding regularly for months now. Might as well let Graves take the nice office, too.
I don't doubt Nutting will fire Cherington after this season. For those who've already checked out -- and that's easily forgiven -- the Pirates are now 15-32, they've lost 16 of their past 20, and they're on pace for 110 losses.
I'd say that's fireable.
And this being Year 6 of the operation, I'd say that's fireable and a half.
So fire him, Bob. Just fire him.
Nutting owes that to Skenes' presence in Pittsburgh. This is probably the most gifted pitcher our city's ever seen, he represents the most valuable and precious commodity in the sport, he's blown through any expectations to date, and he's been a model citizen. Every day he's spent on the payroll should be seen as a gift from the baseball gods.
Nutting owes that to Kelly, who he legit loves and wants to see succeed here in the long term.
Nutting owes that to every fan who heard Cherington say at the press conference to fire Shelton, "I believe I certainly have to find ways to continue to make the roster better and support the team in different ways. It’s got to be all in. It’s not on one person. It’s on everybody. But it certainly starts with me.” Only to watch Cherington react by plucking some rando off the waiver wire a couple days ago -- I swear, I never caught his name -- then cast him off the next day ... and nothing else. It was back to business as usual.
Nutting owes that to everyone who’s sick of all of this, but sicker still in seeing that there’s no sign it’ll end soon.
THE ASYLUM
DK: Do right by Skenes, Kelly by firing Cherington ... now
I know what Paul Skenes told me. I trust and respect it.
I also know what I wanted him to tell me.
Because there he was immediately after the final out of the Pirates' 1-0 loss to the Phillies today here at Citizens Bank Park, up at the dugout railing, the lower part of his face buried in his right forearm, eyes staring toward the happy home team shaking hands. And this after eight extraordinary innings in which he'd held one of Major League Baseball's most lethal lineups to one cheesy run on three cheesy hits while striking out nine.
Take a look:
That scene made it onto the NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast on this side of the commonwealth. And from there, of course, all over social media.
I asked Skenes afterward, away from the assembled media, what might've been moving through his mind in that moment, and he replied, "I think, when it's that close to the outing, I'm really just trying to process my outing. It was a lot more about that because, at the end of the day, we can only control what we can control. So that was it, just kinda thinking through the good and the bad, which normally I would have two or three innings to do up here. Kinda had an inning or so to do it down there today. That was really it."
To repeat, I trust and respect that. I've seen him do exactly what he described in dugouts after he's out of a game. This one just happened to be his first official complete game in the majors, so it came closer to the finish.
But again, man ... just imagine.
I don't get the sense he'll ever do it -- total team player, military background, all that -- but just imagine that he'd someday feel fed up. That he'd stand up and say so. That he'd make it public and plain that, if the Pirates don't care about what he could bring to a competitive team, if they're cool with all this losing, with this laughable offense ... hey, get me out of here.
Think Bob Nutting might fire his whole front office within, like, five minutes?
Beginning with Ben Cherington, who's as good as gone after this season regardless?
Imagine if it'd matter to Nutting, with sufficient urgency, that he's still employing the general manager who's bungled every conceivable category of organization-building, but mostly in the form of the lowest-scoring offense in the majors, one that hasn't topped four runs in a worst-in-the-franchise's-144-year-history 23 consecutive games, the second such streak by anyone in the past half-century:
That's Ke'Bryan Hayes rolling over a meatball of a slider to kill a first-inning rally against some kid making his big-league debut on an emergency basis. In 177 plate appearances, he has six extra-base hits and 15 RBIs. He batted cleanup the other night.
That's Henry Davis, a No. 1 overall pick now 25 years old, hacking through a smart hit-and-run call by Kelly that had Isiah Kiner-Falefa out by a mile at second base.
That's Adam Frazier bunting a boomeranger to the mound for a casual forceout at third.
That's a bad bunch of offensive baseball that doesn't even illustrate any of the 14 -- FOURTEEN! -- strikeouts, including all four of Oneil Cruz's flailing at-bats. And that’s the cumulative result of a half-decade of bad acquisitions, bad development, bad everything.
Imagine if it'd matter to Nutting, with sufficient urgency, that there are those within the baseball industry who saw this offensive collapse coming for years, through negligible/misguided development in the minors. Same patterns. Same problems.
Imagine if it'd matter to Nutting, with sufficient urgency, that every single day he keeps Cherington aboard is another day that Don Kelly, an inspired choice to be this team's manager for the foreseeable future, will be bound to meet resistance to making the changes he'll see as necessary. Even if Cherington says yes out of obligation.
To put this another way: Can anyone picture the reality in which Cherington's OK with Kelly reaching out to tap 78-year-old Gene Lamont to be his de facto bench coach? In Cherington's world that's founded on the white-collared army of advance analytics?
Didn't think so.
Imagine if it'd matter to Nutting, with sufficient urgency, that every single day he keeps Cherington aboard is another day that the players wearing the uniform will wonder what the hell's going on. It's not as if they aren't aware of the broader scenario. New or old, they see, they hear, they read. And if they know the GM's a dead man walking, then they also know that, no matter how hard Kelly tries to set the right tone, the season's equally dead.
A clean start doesn't have to mean finding a permanent GM right away. Kevan Graves can handle such duties on an interim basis -- he did so in 2019 when Neal Huntington was fired -- and he's been part of the front office for as long as Nutting's been owner, since 2007. And heck, Cherington again assigned Graves to take his place this morning on the weekly general manager's radio show, a Pittsburgh staple since the legendary Joe L. Brown, and a task Cherington's been avoiding regularly for months now. Might as well let Graves take the nice office, too.
I don't doubt Nutting will fire Cherington after this season. For those who've already checked out -- and that's easily forgiven -- the Pirates are now 15-32, they've lost 16 of their past 20, and they're on pace for 110 losses.
I'd say that's fireable.
And this being Year 6 of the operation, I'd say that's fireable and a half.
So fire him, Bob. Just fire him.
Nutting owes that to Skenes' presence in Pittsburgh. This is probably the most gifted pitcher our city's ever seen, he represents the most valuable and precious commodity in the sport, he's blown through any expectations to date, and he's been a model citizen. Every day he's spent on the payroll should be seen as a gift from the baseball gods.
Nutting owes that to Kelly, who he legit loves and wants to see succeed here in the long term.
Nutting owes that to every fan who heard Cherington say at the press conference to fire Shelton, "I believe I certainly have to find ways to continue to make the roster better and support the team in different ways. It’s got to be all in. It’s not on one person. It’s on everybody. But it certainly starts with me.” Only to watch Cherington react by plucking some rando off the waiver wire a couple days ago -- I swear, I never caught his name -- then cast him off the next day ... and nothing else. It was back to business as usual.
Nutting owes that to everyone who’s sick of all of this, but sicker still in seeing that there’s no sign it’ll end soon.
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