The Twins are hiring Derek Shelton as their new manager, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports. Shelton returns to the Twins, where he previously served as Minnesota’s bench coach for two seasons. Shelton served in the role in 2018-19, spending one season each under Paul Molitor and Rocco Baldelli.
His familiarity with management undoubtedly facilitated his efforts to find managers. Shelton was a finalist in the 2018 recruiting process that ended with Minnesota selecting Baldelli. Although he didn’t get the job at the time, he only had to wait another year for a management opportunity. Shelton takes the top job with the Buccaneers in 2020.
Pittsburgh was coming off a 69-93 season that saw owner Clint Hurdle and general manager Neal Huntington fired. They hired Ben Cherington to run the front office and Shelton to oversee the team’s rebuild. Pittsburgh went 19-41 in the shortened season before posting a record 100-game losing streak in 2021-22.
By 2023, things appear to be improving. The Buccaneers improved to 76-86 that year. Next season, their price is hovering around 0.500 and is a very soft deadline buyer. Pittsburgh went 21-33 over the final two months and was 10 games below .500 for the second straight year. The poor results continued until the beginning of the 25th season. The Buccaneers started the year with a 12-26 record and more or less locked up another last-place finish when they fired Shelton in the second week of May. Pittsburgh hit .500 ball the rest of the way under Don Kelly, so they’ll continue with the Cherington/Kelly tandem in 2026.
There will be more to come.
