DK’s Daily Shot of Pirates: ‘Accountable together’

12 comments

1. Cherington is so good at lying while taking your money and producing nothing, he should really be a politician 😂

2. FSG owns Liverpool FC I believe..

3. Bob needed to throw out the bathwater, its dirty and cold

4. Nutting, Williams, Cherington & Shelton couldn’t successfully run the Washington Wild Things.

5. This is a long post/rant, so please feel free to ignore it. (If DK decides that this post is too long for this particular site and it's removed, I'll post it later on his main site.)

   When I found out that Ben Cherington declared during his vapid press conference not too long ago that he and Derek Shelton would be "accountable together" in 2025, I threw up in my mouth a little bit (metaphorically speaking).

   My first thought was, "They've been UNACCOUNTABLE together for five consecutive years. Now they're suddenly and magically going to embrace accountability because they may have been given an ultimatum for producing five lousy years of mediocre baseball ‐- together! — along with visible levels of failure and sheer incompetence?" My second thought was, "If this franchise clearly didn't care about winning over the past five years, what's going to be so different in 2025?"

   I think this episode is spot on regarding the likelihood of Nutting and Williams not wanting to have to spend any time or energy replacing Cherington and Shelton before next season– while ridiculously assuming that there would be no fan backlash. What fan in his or her right mind would want to experience another season with those two in charge of the team? The decision to DO NOTHING before 2025 is not only a mean-spirited slap in the face to Pirate fans, it's also unfair to the players for a host of reasons. In my view, this egregious lack of action by Nutting and Williams is nothing short of a direct strategy to antagonize. I could be wrong, but they had to be aware that Pirate fans were becoming very upset and vocal during the last two months of the 2024 season. What better way to get back at the fans than by keeping Cherington and Shelton on board for the 2025 season? (They'll show us who's in charge!) Nutting and Williams seem built for this kind of passive-aggressive behavior if they happen to be publicly called out for any reason– because it doesn't allow them to remain "invisible."

   There's another layer to this that I find highly disturbing. Why are Cherington and Shelton so "joined at the hip" that they can't hold themselves accountable independently? Why can't Cherington hold himself accountable NOW by firing and replacing Shelton just to show that he's willing to do "something" to help the team win more games? Cherington and Shelton seem way too CLOSE, as if one can't function professionally (or unprofessionally) without the other. It's no wonder that this Pirates team has been in BIG trouble — and will continue to be in big trouble — unless change is somehow forced on the organization from the outside.

   The sheer strangeness and dysfunction level of Nutting, Williams, Cherington, and Shelton have officially forced the Pirate players (and  Pirate fans) into the realm of unacceptable absurdity.

   Attempting to "buy one more year?" This isn't a franchise owned and run by authentic, dedicated, and honest leaders. This is a franchise owned and run by individuals who are indifferent, apathetic, complacent, and ultimately lazy– and they're getting paid to possess those neglectful qualities.

6. DK, you have mentioned Arnold numerous times……how do you know he wanted the GM job in Pittsburgh? If he's as sharp as you keep saying, he probably didn't want to be GM for Miser Bob Nutting and his non-winning desire. Operating budget/payroll is most definitely discussed during GM interviews. Arnold had to know his hands would be tied under this owner.

7. 🤬🤬😡🤬🤬

8. DK, I enjoy this channel. But, I pay less, and less attention to the Pirates, as the losing seasons continue. Such a sorry franchise!

9. I've tried pulling for the Cleveland baseball team while Pittsburgh wallows at the bottom, but Cleveland is an AL team.
   This year, while Pittsburgh continues to wallow, I'm feeling like Cincinnati may be fun to follow it only to watch Francona turn that club around.

10. The never ending process mentality ends with in game decisions by Shelton to win the game being played in front of him, DK. Can he do that? He will if keeping his job depends on it.

11. I agree DK. Great listen and looking forward to Monday. Thank you DK

12. I’ll be in Pittsburgh November 11-20 for games but I’d love to join a protest against this joke of an owner and front office.