It’s official: Despite outcries from a portion of the fan base, owner Bob Nutting is not selling the Pittsburgh Pirates. That was the biggest – and only – news from last weekend’s PiratesFest, a two-day event held at the 1.5 million-square-foot David L. Lawrence Convention Center on the outskirts of downtown Pittsburgh.
Pirates owner Bob Nutting has no plans to sell team, says club executive: ‘He cares about winning’ https://t.co/SpqzMQRTpd
— CBS Sports MLB (@CBSSportsMLB) January 21, 2025
Bob Nutting Not Selling Pirates, Wants to Win
Otherwise, fans coming to PiratesFest hoping for meat were instead treated to massive portions of word salad. Although Nutting strolled around the massive edifice and engaged with fans, he was not present at the fans’ Q&A, which he left to general manager Ben Cherington and team president Travis Williams, with broadcaster Greg Brown moderating. At the time that the management team was assembled, it brought a glimmer of hope to Pirates fans. Cherington held the same position with the Boston Red Sox from 2011-15, winning a World Series in 2013. Williams had been the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Chief Operating Officer from 2011-18. The Penguins won two Stanley Cups during his reign.
The vague non-answers were a type normally served up at Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin’s press conference. To wit: Despite not winning, the team is committed to winning. It just hasn’t worked out, but the effort is there. Despite a relatively quiet offseason, it’s expected the roster will be improved by spring training. The Pirates aren’t opposed to signing a free agent to a multi-year contract. The right match just hasn’t happened yet.
One fan asked whether there were plans to extend stars Paul Skenes and Oneil Cruz, or would the Pirates follow their usual tradition of trading them for “hot garbage” before their contracts are close to expiration? Cherington said sometimes the Pirates and a player find common ground, sometimes they don’t. They’ll keep looking at creative ways to be competitive. (Given the subzero temperatures in Pittsburgh this week, diving into a pile of hot garbage sounds pretty good right about now.)
“Where is Bob?”
Inevitably, the question came up, “Where is Bob?” The question came from a fan who has been behind a series of “Sell the Team” billboards throughout the city. Williams said that Nutting had sent the Pirates’ brain trust there to speak for him. According to several news sources and social media posts, Williams said, “Bob’s not going to sell the team. He cares about Pittsburgh, cares about winning, cares about us putting a winning product on the field and we’re working towards that every day.”
It confirmed what anybody familiar with Nutting, the Pirates’ principal owner since 2007, knew already. His family has a history of holding onto valuable assets for the long term. Nutting is now a fourth-generation president and Chief Executive Officer of Ogden Newspapers, Inc. in his hometown of Wheeling, West Virginia. He held several ski resorts for 15 years before selling them in 2021. He is now a part-owner of two whiskey distilleries.
On Nutting and Payroll
The Pirates have consistently sat toward the bottom of the major leagues in payroll during Nutting’s time as principal owner. There have been vague promises to increase payroll when appropriate. Nutting’s estimated net worth is in excess of $1 billion. A February 2024 article in The Athletic, citing several unnamed sources, accused Nutting of frugalness. Upgrades to the Pirates spring training facility to the tune of $8 million in 2014 came from the baseball operations budget, which impacted payroll. A trade was delayed by one day to save $30,000.
A July 2024 story in Pittsburgh Baseball Now, again drawn from anonymous sources, said that front office employees were “furious” with public statements by Nutting to the effect that the Pirates had money to spend at the trade deadline. Those employees said that no extra money was available.
Business 101
Of course, personal net worth is irrelevant. After a 40-year career working with businesses, I can say two things with certainty. First, business owners generally want their businesses to sink or swim on their own. They don’t move profits from successful businesses or their personal funds to other, less successful businesses. Whether that should be done in the Pirates’ case is a different question. But generally, it’s seldom done. Second, anybody who believes that any baseball team owner would rather win games than make a profit is seriously delusional. If there are exceptions, they’re rare.
Nutting has been accused of taking tremendous profits from the Pirates. Of course, the Pirates don’t make their financial statements public. Without evidence, it’s irresponsible to print any speculation as to whether the Pirates are turning a profit and how much that might be. That’s why you won’t see that here. There are plenty of other outlets going down that path. No reader is being starved of that sort of content.
Psychology 101
While Nutting’s frugality has been an obstacle to the Pirates competing, it’s not the only one, nor is it the chief obstacle. I’m talking about baseball’s stupid economic system, which lacks revenue sharing, salary floors, and salary caps, relying on an ineffective payroll tax to create a competitive balance. Yet this system is rarely blamed for the Pirates’ inability to compete.
Psychologists say our values are either “intrinsic” or “extrinsic.” People with intrinsic values are more inclined toward empathy. In a country like the United States, which values success and “winning,” more people have extrinsic values, and it makes them more reluctant to blame the winners for the very problems that they’ve caused. Perhaps the Los Angeles Dodgers’ recent spending spree will ultimately cause a reversal in baseball’s system and a change in perspective for the likes of pitcher and self-proclaimed competitive balance expert Jack Flaherty.
A certain team is not ruining baseball
A lot of other teams are just doing very little— Jack Flaherty (@jflare_) January 21, 2025
The Last Word
None of this is intended to absolve Nutting, who is his own worst enemy in terms of poor public relations, a largely self-inflicted wound. He is rarely visible, showing up only to take a bow when Pirates Charities is acknowledged for its good works or when a Pirates player is honored. In those settings, he’ll decline to answer questions about the team, citing a desire to not overshadow the event. He’s rarely available for interviews. He might also make the Pirates’ financial statements public. His team plays in a largely public-funded ballpark.
His predecessor, Kevin McClatchy, was also criticized for lack of spending on payroll during his tenure as the Pirates managing member. McClatchy also made his fair share of gaffes. (Who can forget the press conference when he held a hoagie aloft and declared, “This is enough food?”) Yet he wasn’t hated by a large swath of the fan base. He could be seen seated right behind home plate nightly, wearing his Pirates cap, cheering and yelling at umpires. Similar visibility and outward passion by Nutting may go a long way to improving his perception among the fans.
Photo Credit: © Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
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