Pirates reach new lows as “sell the team” chants reach new highs

No amount of Paul Skenes’ bobbleheads can fix this.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have reached new lows this season, as the team continues to underperform and trudge along through another miserable campaign. “Sell the team” chants have become a norm at home games this year, getting so bad that the broadcast team for SportsNet Pittsburgh silenced them after an eruption at PNC Park during the Cleveland series. Owner Bob Nutting has long been public enemy number one for Pirates fans, and his relationship with the fanbase has never been worse.

Nutting might be the worst owner in professional sports, but is he really the worst possible option for the Pirates?

A fan submitted a letter that was posted on the Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s website, brought up an interesting point regarding the Pirates’ ownership group. If Nutting were to sell the team, it does not necessarily guarantee that the team will stay in Pittsburgh. He made the comparison to the Baltimore Colts, who had a long and storied history in the city. Despite winning three NFL Championships and one Super Bowl, it took one fateful night in 1983 for Robert Irsay to sneak out of the city and relocate the team to Indianapolis.

As bad as he is, Nutting might be as good as it gets for the Pirates. Certainly there is more money to be made in other markets. Pittsburgh is the 24th-most valuable franchise in baseball, with the area being ranked 22nd in terms of market size. Western Pennsylvania isn’t necessarily an affluent area, but the Steelers and Penguins have shown that the fans will follow and support a winner. Obviously the Pirates do not have that luxury.

If Nutting were to sell, and the team was to continue to perform this way, it’s not out of the question to think that the team could be relocated. Although PNC Park is a perfect venue for baseball, there are other larger markets that would love to have a Major League team come to their city with a brand new stadium waiting for them. Up-and-coming cities like Nashville, Raleigh/Charlotte, and Austin all lack baseball teams and are looking for more professional sports to come to their cities in general.

Bob Nutting isn’t necessarily a local, but being that he’s from Wheeling West Virginia, that’s about as local as the Pirates can get at this point. Obviously, the Steelers have been owned by the Rooney family since 1933, while the Penguins have traded ownership groups over time, now being owned by Fenway Sports Group. The Pirates in the hands of an outside owner could be the worst-case scenario for the future of the club.

Last Saturday against the Guardians is when things really erupted, as 37,713 fans broke out in “sell the team” chants. Again, this outburst was so loud that on Sunday it could be heard over the broadcast before it was silenced. Andrew McCutchen, who is now on his second stint with the team, commented on the displeasure the fans are expressing.

“Obviously, everyone is trying their best. It’s tough when you’ve got ‘sell the team’ chants going on and you’re trying to compete and do well,” McCutchen said. ”It’s just hard, no matter what. You’ve got all that going on around you while you’re trying to focus on doing one thing well, and it’s hard to filter out the negative and focus on yourself at that moment. It’s tough.”

‘Cutch has been here for the good and the bad, with his latter years with the club ranking as some of the worst he and the franchise have experienced. The team has a lowly 1291-1543 record since Nutting took the helm in 2007, with just three postseason appearances in 19 seasons. Though this is more or less the norm for Pirates fans, McCutchen did acknowledge the toll it can take on the players, especially those not used to it.

“I’ve been here long enough, so I get it. I just hate it for the guys who haven’t been a part of it and haven’t been here for very long. They’re like, ‘Man, these people seem pretty upset.’ You have to go out there and try to perform and do well when there’s this cloud over the team.”

This team has been a nightmare for PR as of late, and this is just the latest installment. Bob Nutting made it very clear earlier this year that he is not selling the team, and he believes he has done “his part” as the owner of the Pirates. Salvation comes in many forms, but this Pittsburgh team seems trapped in purgatory for the foreseeable future.