Pirates Gold Glove-winning IF has brutal assessment of team

Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Pirates Gold Glove-winning IF has brutal assessment of 'terrible' team

By Adam Gretz | Last updated May 9, 2025 7:58 PM ET

When the Pittsburgh Pirates acquired infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa at the 2024 trade deadline, things were significantly different than they are right now. The team was on the fringes of playoff contention, was a buyer at the deadline for the first time in years and had a real sense of optimism due to the arrival of top pitching prospect Paul Skenes.

A lot has changed in the short period of time since then, and none of it has been for the better.

Kiner-Falefa offered a brutally honest assessment of that on Friday just before the team took on the Atlanta Braves.

In reference to the numerous PR blunders they have had this season, as well as the late-season collapse and awful start this season that led to this week's firing of manager Derek Shelton, Kiner-Falefa admitted nothing has been as he hoped and that the whole situation has been "terrible."

IKF con't, reflecting on his time in PGH: "(Derek Shelton being fired) is just kind of like icing on the cake with that. This is not what I envisioned coming into getting traded here last year...Since then, everything’s kind of went downhill. It’s been terrible, to be honest."
— Justin Guerriero (@GuerrieroTrib) May 9, 2025

That is never what you want to hear from a veteran player who has spent less than one full season with your team. It is also hard to disagree with him.

Just to recap everything that has gone wrong since his arrival:

The Pirates fell apart after the trade deadline and not only missed the playoffs, but they won only 76 games and did not improve by a single game over their 2023 record despite the arrival of Skenes.
They were completely inactive during the offseason and did not make a single meaningful addition to their roster, leading to a 12-26 start entering play on Friday.
The team has had multiple PR missteps: replacing a Roberto Clemente tribute with an advertisement, removing bricks with fans' names on them and lying about what happened to them, a fan fell out of the stands during a game, games have been sparsely attended with fans repeatedly chanting to sell the team, and this week an usher and two fans got into a physical altercation that went viral. That is decades' worth of chaos unfolding within six weeks.
On top of all of that, Shelton became the first scapegoat to fall on the sword for the failure of a season on the field. Even if he was not the most deserving of that fate.

So, yeah, "terrible" sums it up quite nicely.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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