Kevin Gorman: New Pirates manager Derek Shelton's short, sweet message: Have fun

The Pittsburgh Pirates wanted a new voice with a new message, and they got their wish when Clint Hurdle was fired after his was tuned out too often over the last of his nine seasons.

Derek Shelton is preparing for his first spring training as a major-league manager by practicing his first speech, which he plans to deliver before the Pirates’ first full-squad practice.

“About a thousand times,” Shelton said, with a laugh, by phone from Florida. “There’s major points I want to get across the group about how we want the culture to be. I do think it has to be very clear and to the point. The players need to know what you expect of them.”

The short and sweet version: Have fun.

That might sound impossible, considering the Pirates are coming off a 93-loss season and last-place finish in the NL Central and are in the midst of a rebuild — even if they won’t say so.

But after a second-half collapse filled with turmoil, Shelton wants the Pirates to get back to focusing on their love of baseball when they report to Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla.

So, his first camp will have a more relaxed atmosphere, with fewer meetings and a later schedule in an attempt to create a new clubhouse culture that emphasizes the most important aspect of baseball: Enjoying the game again.

“I don’t know what the old voice and old message was because I wasn’t here,” said Shelton, 49, who spent the past two seasons as bench coach for the Minnesota Twins. “We’re not going to dwell on the past. Our group is moving forward with the message that we feel is important, and not only to deliver it but to bring it on a daily basis.

“We’re definitely going to be player-centric. We want to grow every day and have fun. That’s the big thing. Whatever you do, you should enjoy your job. You spend more time around this group of players and staff than you do your wife and family, so it’s important to have fun.”

And, just maybe, to laugh to keep from crying.

The Pirates did Shelton no favors, in terms of the roster. Payroll is expected to be around $50 million, now that they traded their highest-paid and best all-around player in centerfielder Starling Marte to Arizona for a pair of 19-year-old prospects. Not only did the Pirates cut ties with Marte last month but they released catcher Francisco Cervelli and traded leftfielder Corey Dickerson, lost ace pitcher Jameson Taillon to a second Tommy John surgery and All-Star closer Felipe Vazquez to an arrest for three felony charges involving a minor last summer.

That doesn’t even count the clubhouse chaos, which included fights involving relief pitchers Kyle Crick and Keone Kela and even an assistant coach. The Pirates were more of a mess than even their record indicated, so it’s no wonder Shelton doesn’t want to dwell on the past but rather focus on the future.

“In any line of work, when you’re in one place for too long, some things get repetitive, some things get redundant,” Pirates pitcher Chris Archer said last September after the season finale. “A new voice, a new message might be welcome, especially with all the drama that’s been going on this season.”

Pirates chairman Bob Nutting heard enough to come to the conclusion that a housecleaning was in order. He conducted a mass makeover, albeit a clumsy one, first by firing Hurdle before the season finale and later by pushing out president Frank Coonelly and, finally, general manager Neal Huntington.

That forced the Pirates to start their managerial search over, after Travis Williams was introduced as president and Ben Cherington was named general manager. The Pirates were fortunate to find Shelton still available and interested, and his hiring has been lauded because of his ties to Joe Maddon and Rocco Baldelli and reputation for a player-friendly persona.

“It’s been nice, man,” Pirates pitcher Joe Musgrove said last month of getting to know Shelton. “The energy has been really good so far, and I’m more excited to see what it’s like when we get things going on the physical side of it.”

What Shelton learned as hitting coach under Maddon for the Tampa Bay Rays and bench coach under Baldelli with the Twins was the importance of trusting his coaching staff and allowing his assistants to implement their plans.

Don Kelly, the Mt. Lebanon and Point Park alum who played for the Pirates in 2007, will serve as Shelton’s right-hand man on the bench. Shelton found Baldelli’s willingness to involve him in everything, including interviews with the media, to be helpful in grooming him for the demands of his new job.

That’s why Shelton wants input from Kelly and his coaching staff, why he will allow new coaches Oscar Marin to handle the pitchers, Glenn Sherlock the catchers and Tarrik Brock the baserunning. That’s their areas of expertise. What will be new for Shelton is the responsibility of overseeing everything.

“Any good leader delegates to the people around him,” said Shelton, a former minor-league catcher who served as hitting coach in Cleveland and Tampa Bay. “We’re real fortunate to have the coaches we’ve put together and to see how they’ve bonded. The biggest thing you learn is you have to let coaches coach.”

This is what we should be eager to see from the Pirates this spring: Can Shelton maximize their potential in a way that Hurdle could not? Can he convince the Pirates to play hard and, more important, fundamentally sound? Can Marin help Chris Archer return to form and develop Mitch Keller into the top-of-rotation pitcher he was as a touted prospect? Can Brock improve the baserunning? Can Sherlock find an everyday catcher?

That’s a lot of questions, and you can’t expect Shelton to have all the answers before he’s ever managed a major-league game. He’s going to make rookie mistakes. But he promises to take a hands-on approach and is looking forward to player feedback.

“A lot of things that help you get better are from observations from the players,” Shelton said. “That’s what’s exciting to me, to get feedback, because the more buy-ins we have, the more invested they’re going to be.”

That’s the new message from the new voice, a speech Shelton will practice about a thousand more times before the old catcher delivers his first pitch as new manager. He isn’t making any promises this season about the Pirates, except for the one that matters most.

If nothing else, Shelton should be fun.

Love baseball? Stay up-to-date with the latest Pittsburgh Pirates news.