Pirates manager Derek Shelton 'more than happy' to take pay cut to help team sustain

If the Pittsburgh Pirates resort to reducing the salaries of their highest-paid employees, Derek Shelton is on board with taking a hit for the team before he ever manages a major-league game.

Shelton commended Pirates president Travis Williams and general manager Ben Cherington for being “extremely clear” with how they want to handle the club’s business matters amid the coronavirus crisis.

That includes the Pirates exploring a tiered salary reduction that would start with the management team, including Shelton, taking the highest percentage of pay cuts.

“We’re in unprecedented times, and unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures,” Shelton said Tuesday afternoon on a conference call with Pittsburgh reporters. “The fact that we have to make adjustments in how we’re doing it, then I’m all for in it. Our staff is very excited to be here, to be Pirates. On that part of it, I commend those guys for the work they’re doing.”

The shutdown over covid-19 interrupted spring training and has delayed the start of the regular season, preventing Shelton from managing his first big-league game. But the rookie manager preferred to focus on the positives that would prevent layoffs and furloughs than lament what he has lost.

“Travis laid it out pretty clearly that they are exploring highly compensated employees will have some of salary reduction,” Shelton said. “I’m assuming that’s going to happen, and I’m more than happy to do that for us to sustain and move forward.”