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PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Ben Cherington expects manager Derek Shelton to return next season.

Cherington said Wednesday that Shelton remains “the right person to manage this team in 2025” despite an August swoon that dropped the Pirates out of postseason contention.

“I think there’s a lot to the job I believe he does really, really well and I also believe he works his tail off to continue to improve in a number of ways,” Cherington said.

Shelton entered Wednesday’s game against Miami 287-404 (.415) in nearly five full seasons in Pittsburgh. The Pirates hoped to take another step forward in 2024 behind rookie pitcher Paul Skenes. While they were above .500 and in the middle of the wild-card race at the July 30 trade deadline, Pittsburgh has slumped down the stretch and is on pace to finish with around 76 wins, right where the franchise was a year ago.

“I do believe that there’s good evidence that we’re in a better position and we’re improved, and again, it’s not enough,” Cherington said. “We have to figure out a way to get more of that and ultimately push our win totals higher. I’m ultimately responsible for that and focused on it every day.”

Cherington hired Shelton in November 2019 to handle the major league roster as Cherington began a top-down overhaul of the organization. The steps back toward relevance have been difficult. The Pirates finished last in the NL Central in each of Shelton’s first three seasons as Cherington traded away veterans like Joe Musgrove and Josh Bell while restocking the minor-league system.

The team upped its record to 76-86 a year ago and 2023 top overall pick Skenes’ arrival in the majors in mid-May gave the franchise the kind of buzz it has lacked since reaching the playoffs three straight years a decade ago.

While Skenes has dazzled — he’s 10-2 with a 2.10 ERA through 20 starts — the bullpen has been a mess and the lineup has struggled to produce regularly. The Pirates are near the bottom of the National League in every major offensive category, including runs (11th), home runs (13th) and on-base plus slugging percentage.

Though Cherington endorsed Shelton, he was less committed to the rest of the coaching staff. Hitting coach Andy Haines’ job status is likely up in the air with runs continuing to be hard to come by.

“We will get to the end of the season and have an opportunity to look at the entire (coaching) group and decide, again consistent with the point about faster improvement and more improvement, if any adjustments are necessary to give ourselves a better chance to do that,” Cherington said.

The Pirates have already started making changes to the scouting department, though Cherington declined to call it an “overhaul.”

The major league roster remains a work in progress. The team moved 6-foot-7 shortstop Oneil Cruz to center field earlier this month after Cruz struggled defensively. Third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes is dealing with back problems that limited his power. They currently have three catchers under control for next year — 2021 top overall pick Henry Davis, Endy Rodriguez and Joey Bart — and a glaring need at first base if they don’t re-sign Rowdy Tellez, who has rebounded from a slow start.

Designated hitter Andrew McCutchen, who reached the 20-homer plateau for the 10th time in his career Tuesday night, wants to come back next season, and Cherington is optimistic that will happen.

“We would love to find a way for Andrew to finish his career in a Pirates uniform,” Cherington said.

Still, McCutchen is one very small piece of a complicated puzzle.

“(We) believe the team is better than it was last year and [it’s still] not good enough,” Cherington said. “We need to make it better. There’s no one thing that’s going to do that. There are lots of things that are going to do that. We’re responsible for delivering and we’ll keep focused on that.”

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Sources: Red Sox deal Devers to Giants in stunner

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Sources: Red Sox deal Devers to Giants in stunner

The San Francisco Giants are acquiring All-Star slugger Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Sunday evening.

The Giants are sending starter Jordan Hicks and 23-year-old lefty Kyle Harrison, among others, to Boston in exchange, sources said.

Devers, 28, is in just the second season of a 10-year, $313.5 million contract he signed to stay in Boston in January 2023, however his relationship with the team suffered a significant blow after the star third baseman was reportedly blindsided by a move to designated hitter in the spring.

Tensions flared again last month after Devers refused an offer from the team to move him to first base after starting first baseman Triston Casas was ruled out for the season with a knee injury.

It reached a point where Red Sox owner John Henry met with the disgruntled star, making a rare trip to meet the team on the road and smooth things over after Devers’ pointed comments about the request to switch positions again.

Hicks and Harrison give a pitching-starved Red Sox team more depth on their staff while Devers provides a huge boost to a middling Giants offense.

Devers has more than 200 career home runs to his name and has a .894 OPS for Boston this season.

The deal was first reported by Fansided.

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Ohtani’s pitching return might be coming soon

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Ohtani's pitching return might be coming soon

Shohei Ohtani‘s pitching debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers might be quickly approaching.

Manager Dave Roberts told reporters Sunday that Ohtani would throw another simulated game in the coming days that could “potentially” be his last one, and a source told ESPN’s Buster Olney that Ohtani should join the Dodgers’ rotation “sooner rather than later,” potentially within the week.

Ohtani took a big step forward during his most recent simulated game at Petco Park on Tuesday, throwing 44 pitches over the course of three innings against a couple of lower-level minor league players. Ohtani’s fastball reached the mid- to upper-90s, and he exhibited good command of his off-speed pitches in what amounted to his third time facing hitters. Afterward, Roberts said there was a “north of zero” chance Ohtani could join the rotation before the All-Star break.

Because of his two-way designation, the Dodgers can carry Ohtani as an extra pitcher, which means he can throw two to three innings and have someone pitch after him as a piggyback starter. At this point, it seems that is the Dodgers’ plan.

The Dodgers’ pitching staff has again been plagued by injury, with 14 pitchers on the injured list, including four starting pitchers the team was heavily counting on for 2025 — Blake Snell, Tony Gonsolin, Roki Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow.

If Ohtani returns in July — the likely outcome at this point — he will be 22 months removed from a second repair of his ulnar collateral ligament.

The update isn’t as optimistic for Sasaki. He paused his throwing program and is set for a lengthy layoff. Sasaki has not pitched in a game since May 9 and is not part of the team’s long-term pitching plans this season.

“I think that’s what the mindset should be,” Roberts said. “Being thrust into this environment certainly was a big undertaking for him, and now you layer in the health part and the fact he’s a starting pitcher, knowing what the build-up [required to return] entails … I think that’s the prudent way to go about it.”

Sasaki, 23, went 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA in eight starts after joining the Dodgers from the Pacific League’s Chuba Lotte Marines, averaging less than 4⅓ innings per start. He walked 22 and struck out 24 in 34⅓ innings, and his fastball averaged 95.7 mph, down 3-4 mph from his average in Japan.

Roberts said Sasaki was pain free when he resumed throwing in early June, but the pitcher was shut down after feeling discomfort this past week. Sasaki recently received a cortisone injection in the shoulder; Roberts said no further scans are planned.

“I don’t think it’s pain,” Roberts said. “I don’t know if it’s discomfort, if it’s tightness, if he’s just not feeling strong, whatever the adjective you want to use. That’s more of a question for Roki, as far as the sensation he’s feeling.

“He’s just not feeling like he can ramp it up, and we’re not going to push him to do something he doesn’t feel good about right now.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Judge 1-for-12 as NY swept: Got to swing at strikes

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Judge 1-for-12 as NY swept: Got to swing at strikes

BOSTON — Aaron Judge blamed himself for swinging at pitches outside the strike zone as the New York Yankees were swept in a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox.

“You got to swing at strikes,” Judge said after going 1-for-12 in the series, which Boston completed with a 2-0 victory on Sunday.

Judge struck out three or more times in three straight games for only the third time in his major league career.

“That usually helps any hitter when you swing at strikes,” Judge added. “Definitely some pitches off the edge or off the edge in, you know, taking some hacks just trying to make something happen.”

Judge had a tying solo homer in the opener Friday night but struck out nine times as the Yankees were swept in a series for the first time this season.

New York scored only four runs in the three games, matching its fewest in a three-game series at Fenway Park, on June 20-22, 1916 and on Sept. 28-30, 1922.

“It’s very hard,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of facing Judge. “He’s so good at what he does. We used our fastballs in the right spots, we got some swing and misses.”

“Throughout the years we’ve been aggressive with him,” Cora added. “Sometimes he gets us, sometimes we do a good job with that. It’s always fun to compete against the best, and, to me, he’s the best in the business right now.”

Judge’s major league-leading average dipped to .378.

“I don’t think much of it,” teammate Ben Rice said. “If I could have that guy hitting every single at-bat even if he’s not at his best, I would do it. I’m sure he’ll bounce back. He’ll be all right.”

Judge faced Garrett Whitlock with two on in the eighth Sunday and bounced into an inning-ending double play.

“He’s one of the greatest hitters in the world,” Whitlock said. “It’s special to watch him play and everything. We tried to execute and had some execution this weekend.”

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