MILWAUKEE -- Derek Shelton burst into laughter before I'd even gotten done asking.
But in the best way possible.
I'd asked if he was aware of how "popular" his Sunday lineups had become with fans, underscoring the one for the Pirates' 5-3 victory over the Nationals at PNC Park in which he gave both Bryan Reynolds and Ke'Bryan Hayes a day off, and this was the response:
That's Shelton right there. Tons of ways he could've gone there. That's the one he chose.
The full exchange, verbatim:
Me: I don't have to tell you that your Sunday lineups have been a big hit with the fans. (Shelton laughs.) And I want to ask you about because there's a couple of things that go into that, that come up a lot regarding this is having both of your best players out in the same game. And the other one is doing it at home, you know, post-pandemic, with the impact on fans. What do you say to somebody who says, 'Why don't you just do that in Milwaukee?'
Shelton: "I understand that. That's a good point. And, you know, I, honestly, I had not thought about that. In that regard. I was thinking more about player health in that regard, but I understand that and I understand people come to the ballpark, and probably something I'm gonna think about moving forward now. Because you learn and you think about those things and no, we’re in post-pandemic times, and there are fans there, and I understand that they pay good money to come see their their favorite players. You know, in terms of yesterday, it was more just about player health. But, you know, it is something to keep in mind."
DK: And those lineups, they all get scripted, and it's a group effort, right? It's not like you just walk in one day and say, 'Hey, we're gonna sit these guys,' right?
Shelton: I mean, it's a great group conversation. Ultimately, it's my decision. When we have it scripted out multiple days in advance, we can give the players a heads-up of, like, 'Hey, you know, you're not going to play today.' This is how we're thinking. And then we're looking I mean, in this stretch, we're looking at 16 days in a row. And we're also looking at we play two here and then we go day, then we go night in Chicago, then we go back to day, and there's a lot of things that come into play. And then the other thing is is like I mean, I think we dodged a bullet with Kevin Newman, a little bit with a soft-tissue injury, the fact that we sat him for a day because of his groin. And I'm probably a little more hypersensitive coming off a short spring training with soft-tissue injuries, and maybe you're gonna be a little more conservative throughout April."
That's the man the city's yet to get to fully know, as he's been forced to do almost all of his big-league managing amid a pandemic and, really, hasn't had to do much thinking about anything outside his clubhouse.
Oh, and both Reynolds and Hayes are in the lineup here tonight in Milwaukee. Yoshi Tsutsugo's getting his first day off the season.
