Much ado about Nutting
Alas, we cannot escape the fact of Pirates ownership
Weren’t we adorable? Onl yfive weeks ago, watching them arrive at the All-Star break just2½ games out of first place, we actually wondered if the Pirates might be buyers atthe July 31 trade deadline. Buyers, meaning looking to add talent — impact talent — toa club running hard at a placein the postseason. Hilarious. Owner Bob Nutting boasts along-documented willingness to buy. He might buy a skiresort. He might buy a mountain chalet. He might buy the odd newspaper (remember those?). But buy something like a big-league catcher who knows that you can’t stand in the baseline without the ball? No, not boarding that crazy train.
If you’ve stopped paying attention, and no one of sound mind would blame you, that was one of this week’s lowlights — Elias Diaz screwing up a rundown play, then impeding the runner’s path toward home after throwing the ball to third for no earthly reason, costing the Pirates the game. An inning later, Clint Hurdle gave Erik Gonzalez the bunt sign. After Gonzalez fouled off his first attempt, Hurdle took off the bunt. Gonzalez bunted anyway. This was in the same game when Starling Marte, the only thing resembling a power hitter in the Pirates lineup since the summer collapse of Josh Bell, put down a bunt for, again, no earthly reason.
I hate to wake the owner, butthe Pirates got to the weekend doing a pretty good impression of a man who has just stepped off a roof. They had lost 21 of 25, including the longestlosing streak in eight years, and their sole identifiable intent appeared to be establishing themselves unequivocally as the worst team in baseball. They were 4-12 againstthe Milwaukee Brewers,26-55 against teams with winning records, and their pitcher shad crafted earned run averages that read like the Richter Scale evidence of bad earthquakes — 5.35, 6.54, 7.24, 9.35.
This is when people get fired, Bob, specifically the manager and/or the general manager, culpable or not. In the grand upside-down
tradition of the game, neither might be at fault, but, when it’s time, it’s time. I like Hurdle and Neal Huntington and I think that, for the majority of their tenures, they’ve done a good job given the constraints of the Nutting Ventured Nutting Gained Epoch.
In Hurdle’s tenure, only the Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals had won more frequently than his Pirate sin the National League entering this season. Huntingtonhas been calling personnelshots around here longerthan anyone in club historysave Joe L. Brown, includingfor the franchise’s fourwinning seasons over thepast 26 years. Team presidentFrank Coonelly has equaltenure and is thus equally complicit to whateverextent it’s quantifiable. Allof that is beside the point rightnow.
IfNutting is not going to spendany serious money on thisenterprise — and it’s clearwith a payroll hovering around$70 million, 29th lowestof the 30 teams that he is not— he must at least note thedirection of the club and makesome dramatic changes.
InHurdle’s case, I keep hearingthat the two years remainingon his contract precludehis dismissal because Nuttingwon’t pay two managersat the same time. But thebudget line for a manager wouldn’tlikely double. Hurdlegets a reported $3 million, butNutting likely could get hisreplacement for $1 millionor less. Practically a BOGOdeal, Bob.
Thebolder move, relievingHurdle and Huntington —and I think it would be a truerelief for both, frankly — wouldposition the Pirates to moveswiftly in the management market at season’s end. Doingnothing until then wouldhave them competing froma standing start with teamswho have fully engagedowners willing to providea payroll more typical of acontender.
Actnow Bob, and you can atleast shift the spotlight temporarilyaway from your ownculpability, which is the enduringroot of all Pirates evils.
You’repaying players about$147 million less than theChicago Cubs, about $92 millionless than the Cardinals,and about $57 million lessthan the small-market Brewersand Cincinnati Reds.These are the teams in thedivision where you’re in lastplace. Who would have guessed? According to Spotrac.com,of the six teams leading their respective divisionsat the moment, four areamong the top six in payroll,each spending at least $168 million.
We’re too far into baseball’s evolving financial landscapeto claim poverty anymore,Bob. The game is swimmingin cash, and the Piratesare frolicking in the deepend. According to Forbesand various analysis basedon Forbes’ research, thePirates’ operating income(laymen call that profit) was $39.3 million in 2018,the worst season for attendancein the history of PNCPark. In 2016, again accordingto Forbes, the Piratesmade $51 million, $12million more than the NewYork Yankees. Operatingincome for the Pirates rankedin the top 10 four timesin the past eight years, wasnever worse than 12th, andpeaked at No. 5 in 2014.
Frommost respected financial analysts, the Pirates areworth more than $1 billion, as is the Nutting family. It’s almost as if Nutting formulatessome profit expectation, say $35 million, thenworks backward from there.The players get what theyget, which is generally oneof the lowest payrolls in thegame.
Thisis not competing. The Rooneyscompete. Mario Lemieuxand Ron Burkle compete.Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert, Mike Sullivan,J im Rutherford —
champions all — would not survivea 4-21 slide and likely not anything close to it.
So this isn’t right. The Pirates, like the Steelers, and Penguins, are more than an ATM for billionaires. They’re a public trust. Pittsburgh deserves better.
Youcan be fairly sure that essays like this do not affect a single particle of Nutting’s existence. If he lets thisseason play out without dramatic management changes, you’ll know for certain he’s beyond shame.