Royals Legend Calls Out Pirates After Firing Manager

The Kansas City Royals are playing well after a slow start to the 2025 season, having now won 16 of their last 18 games and taking sole possession of the second American League Wild Card spot.

This comes 10 years after they won their most recent World Series title. The team the Royals had in 2015 featured stars up and down the roster, including slugger Eric Hosmer.

Lately, Hosmer has been very vocal on social media about certain issues around the game of baseball, and hasn't been shy about voicing his opinion.

On Friday, he responded to a statement made by Pittsburgh Pirates owner Bob Nutting after the team fired manager Derek Shelton thanks to a 12-26 start to the 2025 season.

Nutting had said in his statement that the Pirates felt a sense of urgency to make a change.

"Where was that urgency last year at the trade deadline when they were just a half a game out of a wildcard spot?" Hosmer posted on X.

The Pirates were in the mix last year at the trade deadline and did not add any significant pieces, hence Hosmer's criticism. Perhaps the urgency being shown now is too little, too late.

Hosmer was part of two World Series teams with the Royals. The team obviously won their title in 2015 but also surged to the World Series as a Wild Card team the previous year.

Even with Kansas City not addressing their offense, more urgency has been shown on the Royals part in recent years than in Pittsburgh.

More MLB: Ex-Royals World Series Champ On Hot Seat As Manager Of Failing NL Club