Pirates manager Derek Shelton says owner Bob Nutting 'wants to play' a baseball season

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton believes that team chairman Bob Nutting “wants to play” baseball this summer, despite reports that some MLB owners are stalling negotiations to avoid a season.

Shelton said during his weekly appearance on The Cook and Joe Show on 93.7 The Fan that he spoke with the Pirates chairman Wednesday morning at PNC Park and is optimistic there will be games.

“I think he wants to play,” Shelton said. “I think his mindset is to get back on the field and excited to get back on the field and know that our group, our staff, our players and our baseball ops group want to play.

“The Pirates’ situation, from the top down, we want to play baseball. We’re excited to play baseball in Pittsburgh this year. That was the general tone of the conversation, staying positive and staying optimistic. It’s nice to hear from the top down that we’re all on the same page.”

After spring training was interrupted by the coronavirus global pandemic, the start of the MLB season has been on hold as the league and the players’ union negotiate economic, health and safety measures and the number of games and whether to expand playoffs.

That has delayed the debut of Shelton, the rookie manager hired to replace Clint Hurdle. Shelton missed his first Opening Day at Tampa Bay, as well as a chance for a trip to his hometown, Chicago, and the home opener at PNC Park.

Even so, Shelton said he’s “still optimistic” that baseball will return. His anxiety over the holdup has been reduced, thanks to reassuring conversations with Pirates general manager Ben Cherington.

“It has become quite the ride,” Shelton said. “I’m still optimistic. I’m an optimistic person. Ben’s been through a lot more negotiations than I have and I trust him. Honestly, I think we’re ready to play. I was fortunate that I was able to talk to Bob this morning at the ballpark. I think he wants to play. Our staff wants to play. Our players want to play. It’s just getting to the point where we have to make a decision of when we’re going to start but I’m still very optimistic.”

The MLB Players Association rejected the league’s most recent proposal, with a 72-game season paying players at 70% of their prorated salaries with a chance to increase that to 83% with expanded playoffs. The standoff has prevented the season from starting by its targeted date of the July 4 weekend and pushed it until the middle of July.

“Obviously, we do have a clock up against us a little bit in terms of time, but I think we do still have time,” Shelton said. “It’s a little unfortunate that we’re in the mid-June and haven’t started spring training back up, but I think we still have time to get in the games we need to get in.”