Pirates GM Ben Cherington says he expects manager Derek Shelton to return in 2025

PITTSBURGH (AP) — 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 is 288-404 (.415) in nearly five full seasons in Pittsburgh, which swept a three-game series from Miami on Wednesday.

The Pirates hoped to take another step forward in 2024 behind rookie pitchers Paul Skenes and Jared Jones. 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 in 2023.

Still, Shelton sees progress.

“We’re in a definite, much better spot than we have (been) in the last two years with our starting pitching,” Shelton said Wednesday. “We’re deeper than we have been. We need to continue to build some things offensively and continue to grow that depth.”

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 from 2013-15.

While Skenes has dazzled — he is 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 already have 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 he 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 on Tuesday night reached the 20-homer plateau for the 10th time in his career, 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 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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Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton reacts in the dugout during the first inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Jihadis attacked a military training camp near the airport in Mali’s capital on Tuesday as explosions were heard in the area. Within hours, the government said it was temporarily closing the airport in Bamako.

A security official said there was unspecified loss of life and significant damage, without elaborating.

A sweep operation was underway after gunmen attempted to infiltrate the Faladie gendarme school, the military said in a statement. The army said the situation was under control and asked people to avoid the area.

The armed extremists who attacked the military training camp have since been neutralized, Oumar Diarra, the army chief of staff, said on national television.

Later, the military confirmed that the attack took place in “multiple locations,” without providing details.

JNIM, which is linked to al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the attack. Through its media arm, the website Azallaqa, the group said that it had inficted “major human and material losses” and set aircraft on fire. Militant groups often exaggerate their claims.

Earlier in the day, an Associated Press reporter heard two explosions and saw smoke rise in the distance of the camp and airport, both located on the outskirts of the city.

A security official told the AP that the attackers entered the training camp, causing a “loss of life and material damage,” but didn't provide any numbers or specifics. He said they attacked both the training camp and the military base near the airport.

At least 15 suspects were arrested, said the official, who was inside the base at the time of the attack. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk to reporters.

Soon after the attack, Mali's authorities closed the airport. Mohamed Ould Mamouni, communications officer at the ministry of transport, said flights were suspended indefinitely because of the exchange of gunfire that took place near it.

The U.S. Embassy in Bamako told its staff to remain at home and stay off the roads.

Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russian mercenary units for security assistance instead.

Since taking power, Col. Assimi Goita has struggled to stave off growing attacks by the jihadis. Attacks in central and northern Mali are increasing. In July, approximately 50 Russian mercenaries in a convoy were killed in an al-Qaida ambush.

The mercenaries had been fighting mostly Tuareg rebels alongside Mali’s army when their convoy was forced to retreat into jihadi territory and ambushed south of the commune of Tinzaouaten.

Attacks in the capital of Bamako are rare, however. In 2022, gunmen struck a Malian army checkpoint about 60 kilometers (40 miles) outside the city, killing at least six people and wounding several others. In 2015, another al-Qaida linked extremist group killed at least 20 people, including one American, during an attack on a hotel in Bamako.

Tuesday's attack is significant because it showed that JNIM has the ability to stage a large-scale attack, Wassim Nasr, a journalist and senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, told the AP.

“It also shows once again that they are concentrating their efforts on military targets, rather than random attacks on civilian targets,” he said.

Sam Mednick reported from Goma, Congo, and Banchereau from Dakar, Senegal.

This video grab shows Malian security personnel detaining a man after Mali's army said a military training camp in the capital Bamako has been attacked early Tuesday, Sept. 17 2024. (AP Photo)

FILE - Leader of Mali's ruling junta Lt. Col. Assimi Goita, center, attends an independence day military parade in Bamako, Mali on Sept. 22, 2022. (AP Photo, File)