I know I said enough time had passed to the point where I couldn't really comment on the whole Pirates/Lemieux situation, but fortunately, the editors at the Post-Gazette did me the favor of writing an uninformed open letter to Bob Nutting.
Let me go through this piece by piece.
Major league sports is a brutal business. What with aggressive player agents, deep-pocketed competitors and more venues vying for the public's entertainment dollar, it is not a pursuit for the faint of heart.
That was a surprising start, I thought they would just go with the Nutting is cheap/stealing money because major league sports is a profitable business (which it is). But I guess brutality and profits go hand in hand. Something makes me feel that you might just be making an excuse for Nutting to sell the team...
Still, your family has had an ownership stake in the Pirates for 14 years and you've been the controlling owner since January 2007. Not once during the Nuttings' involvement has the team had a winning season. The Pirates' streak of 17 losing campaigns exceeds any run of futility in the history of professional sports. It is, no doubt, as frustrating for you as it is for the fans.
I really don't care about ownership stakes, although if you really want to bring that up; if not for this ownership, the Pirates would be playing in Portland by now, we wouldn't have the best ballpark in baseball, we wouldn't have anybody to make fun of, and we would be living in the equivalent of Buffalo, NY.
The controlling owner is all I care about, and four year/three seasons is what we can blame on Bob Nutting. In his first year, Nutting came to grasps with what he was controlling. In so doing, he realized that Kevin McClatchy had no business being the CEO of the PBC and was even more stunned when he realized that Dave Littlefield had no business being the general manager of the PBC (see: Matt Morris deal, Dan Moskos pick). He promptly fired both, realized he had neither the background nor the experience to run a major league baseball team, and then hired someone who did, Frank Coonelly, who was then in charge of finding a general manager who had a plan that both him and Nutting agreed with. They did so with the hiring of Neal Huntington. Say what you want about the NH/FC partnership over the past two years, but this much is true, they've decided to blow it all up and invest from the bottom up in an effort to truly build from within. So, if you want to blame Nutting, I think you can really start from when he fired DL and made KM step down (September '07).
And as to your assertion that the Pirates current run of losing "exceeds any run of futility in the history of professional sports," that may be true when it comes to consecutive losing seasons, but that is a fairly short-sighted way of describing futility. Did you know that during the Pirates current streak, the Royals have actually accumulated more losses (they won 84 games in '93 and 83 games in '03, but have not made the playoffs in 25 years) and also that the Phillies had one winning season from 1918-48 and had only 2 playoff appearances in their first 93 seasons! Now that, sir, is futility.
And as for your last comment; it is not as frustrating for Bob Nutting as it is for fans, not even close. Not one single Pirate fan would say that (unless they miraculously became a fan of the Buccos after the '07 season). Not even Bob Nutting would say that, a man with whom my biggest complaint is hyperbole. That statement alone makes me doubt the actual identity of the "More than a few Pirate fans" who wrote this "open letter."
The controlling owner is all I care about, and four year/three seasons is what we can blame on Bob Nutting. In his first year, Nutting came to grasps with what he was controlling. In so doing, he realized that Kevin McClatchy had no business being the CEO of the PBC and was even more stunned when he realized that Dave Littlefield had no business being the general manager of the PBC (see: Matt Morris deal, Dan Moskos pick). He promptly fired both, realized he had neither the background nor the experience to run a major league baseball team, and then hired someone who did, Frank Coonelly, who was then in charge of finding a general manager who had a plan that both him and Nutting agreed with. They did so with the hiring of Neal Huntington. Say what you want about the NH/FC partnership over the past two years, but this much is true, they've decided to blow it all up and invest from the bottom up in an effort to truly build from within. So, if you want to blame Nutting, I think you can really start from when he fired DL and made KM step down (September '07).
And as to your assertion that the Pirates current run of losing "exceeds any run of futility in the history of professional sports," that may be true when it comes to consecutive losing seasons, but that is a fairly short-sighted way of describing futility. Did you know that during the Pirates current streak, the Royals have actually accumulated more losses (they won 84 games in '93 and 83 games in '03, but have not made the playoffs in 25 years) and also that the Phillies had one winning season from 1918-48 and had only 2 playoff appearances in their first 93 seasons! Now that, sir, is futility.
And as for your last comment; it is not as frustrating for Bob Nutting as it is for fans, not even close. Not one single Pirate fan would say that (unless they miraculously became a fan of the Buccos after the '07 season). Not even Bob Nutting would say that, a man with whom my biggest complaint is hyperbole. That statement alone makes me doubt the actual identity of the "More than a few Pirate fans" who wrote this "open letter."
The difference between you and the other Pirates faithful, though, is you can do something about it.
True that, and I believe he has about $17 million worth of bonus checks with his signature on them from the last two drafts as proof that he is doing something about it (that's more money than anybody in major league baseball, including the Yankees and Red Sox... Gasp!)
Charlie at BucsDugout has brought it up before, but Littlefield was running the Pirates like they were heading into contraction (like the Pirates were going to vanish after the '08 season, so we might as well put all of our eggs in that basket and hope we go out with a bang). You can't go from what Nutting/Coonelly/Huntington inherited after the '07 season and expect to build a consistently competitive franchise (and when I say competetive, I don't mean winning season, I mean compete for a playoff spot) within a few years. It takes time and we had to get worse (at the ML level) before we can think about getting better.
As for drawing a hard line in the "infield dirt" (how witty!), it's actually not really up to us (this is not Barcelona FC, we do not own the club) and it would be inane for Nutting to draw any sort of line, as it would make him look dumb if that "deadline" were not met, and it would put pressure on FC/NH to divert from their plan in search of that awesome winning season.
When you took over the Pirates, you talked about your commitment to win. It hasn't happened and, even with the latest clutch of young prospects, it's unlikely that 2010 will be a winning season. When you installed a new management team, they said they were out to change Pirates culture. That cultural shift produced more Pirates losses in each of the last two seasons than the year before. When the fans showed their growing impatience, you said there would be accountability. Let's draw a hard line in the infield dirt on when the Nutting regime will be accountable and return this storied franchise to a modicum of respectability -- or else depart the scene.The Pirates culture from '01 to '07 was "Win to break the curse." You don't believe me? The beat writer for the PPG (Dejan Kovecevic, the only writer in their sports department that does his job with due diligence) actually suggested the Pirates slogan should be just the number 82. That's ridiculous. Is that what we really strive for, just 82 wins? Do we really want to end up like the Phillies of '18-'48.
Charlie at BucsDugout has brought it up before, but Littlefield was running the Pirates like they were heading into contraction (like the Pirates were going to vanish after the '08 season, so we might as well put all of our eggs in that basket and hope we go out with a bang). You can't go from what Nutting/Coonelly/Huntington inherited after the '07 season and expect to build a consistently competitive franchise (and when I say competetive, I don't mean winning season, I mean compete for a playoff spot) within a few years. It takes time and we had to get worse (at the ML level) before we can think about getting better.
As for drawing a hard line in the "infield dirt" (how witty!), it's actually not really up to us (this is not Barcelona FC, we do not own the club) and it would be inane for Nutting to draw any sort of line, as it would make him look dumb if that "deadline" were not met, and it would put pressure on FC/NH to divert from their plan in search of that awesome winning season.
That change could come sooner if you were open to the reported offer by Penguins co-owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle to buy the baseball team. Your insistence that the Pirates are not for sale would seem to put an end to the whole idea. Let's hope not.
Really? Why so? Because the Penguins are now good?
As a sports owner powerhouse, Lemieux-Burkle has been able to put the necessary money into the hockey team to keep top talent on the ice. To no one's surprise, the Pirates and Penguins are poles apart in terms of image, success and symbols of Pittsburgh.Hockey and Baseball are two totally different animals. In Hockey, the draft is much more of an exact science, with the highest draft picks generally going straight to the NHL and having an impact. Baseball's draft is a crap-shoot, and it often takes three/four seasons for that talent to reach the Majors. And I really shouldn't have to point out that one has a salary cap and the other does not. Money, yes, that will solve everything. It certainly solved the problems for the Penguins when they signed Ziggy Palffy, John LeClair, and Mark Recchi (among others) after the lockout. You know what really matters (especially in a league without a salary cap), management. Ray Shero is a fantastic NHL GM, but unless he can spin the same magic with the Pirates, I really don't think a change in ownership is gonna do that much.
The Pirates ownership of the Nutting era has never spent much on players. Yet team officials over the years have resisted the notion that this has any bearing on the 17 losing seasons. Even this year, the franchise will be a bottom feeder in terms of total salary in Major League Baseball, with the added twist that ownership is now trying to sell cheapness as a virtue, saying it is necessary to save money for when today's Pirates prospects blossom into the superstars the team will want to keep tomorrow. If only it were so.
How do we not know it is so? I think the only question that most people in the Nutting camp (including myself) still have is, "Will he spend when it's a matter of keeping a star player, or adding a complimentary player to put the team over the top?" It's a legitimate question to ask because although the Pirates have never let a player leave in free agency and become a star during the Nutting era, they have traded guys away for money reasons who then became stars... actually, I should say guy (Aramis Ramirez), the book is still out on Bay (although they did not trade him because of money and I'm not optimistic he'll be a star). Also, Nutting has a reputation of being a bit of a penny pincher in his other ventures.
But Nutting has essentially done everything else he promised, and despite what most people have spewed at him (including this pile of feces called an "open letter"), he's stuck to his guns. It could have been easy for him to keep doing what the Pirates had been doing during McClatchy's tenure as CEO (coast to 75-70 win seasons every year and act like you're just one Burnitz away), but this is an earnest rebuilding from the foundation up, and unfortunately, that takes time.
Also, money does not equal success, good management does (Marlins, Twins, Oakland, Rays).
But Nutting has essentially done everything else he promised, and despite what most people have spewed at him (including this pile of feces called an "open letter"), he's stuck to his guns. It could have been easy for him to keep doing what the Pirates had been doing during McClatchy's tenure as CEO (coast to 75-70 win seasons every year and act like you're just one Burnitz away), but this is an earnest rebuilding from the foundation up, and unfortunately, that takes time.
Also, money does not equal success, good management does (Marlins, Twins, Oakland, Rays).
That's why you shouldn't dismiss an offer by the Penguins' co-owners out of hand. With their management smarts, superior finances and record of success, they could build this team into not only a sure winner but also one with staying power. Like the Pirates we remember.
I've already gone over the vast differences between professional baseball and hockey, and I've already made the case against money, and I've already made my case for Nutting. There's not much more I can say.
In that way, by selling the team you can finally deliver on your promise of producing a winner, and probably years ahead of schedule. You would become an overnight sensation, Pittsburgh's newest baseball hero. It's worth thinking about.
If Nutting sold the team to Lemieux/Burkle, but the management team remained the same and the plan came to fruition (I have hope that it will, but it all comes down to Huntington's player evaluation skills) in making the Pirates a consistent competitor, Nutting would not be a hero, he would be an excuse for why the team was so terrible before Mario & Ron (the real heroes!) took over.
Even if Nutting does not sell, this story will linger into the first day of Spring Training, Opening Day, the Pirates 82nd loss (it's gonna happen this year unless everyone has a career year; I have them winning 72-76 games, which at a 10+ win improvement would still be darn good), and so on. And it really is not fair to Nutting.
I don't blame Lemieux/Burkle, who wouldn't want to own an MLB franchise, if run correctly, it's a huge cash cow; add in the synergy possibilities with two teams in the same town... But all of this does not excuse the outpouring of Nutting criticism from the media (I understand the fans frustration, even if I don't agree with it. "Fan" comes from fanaticism), it's their job to get to the bottom of things and by blaming the closest guy to the situation instead of finding the real culprit (McClatchy/Bonifay/Littlefield), they are not doing their jobs.
Even if Nutting does not sell, this story will linger into the first day of Spring Training, Opening Day, the Pirates 82nd loss (it's gonna happen this year unless everyone has a career year; I have them winning 72-76 games, which at a 10+ win improvement would still be darn good), and so on. And it really is not fair to Nutting.
I don't blame Lemieux/Burkle, who wouldn't want to own an MLB franchise, if run correctly, it's a huge cash cow; add in the synergy possibilities with two teams in the same town... But all of this does not excuse the outpouring of Nutting criticism from the media (I understand the fans frustration, even if I don't agree with it. "Fan" comes from fanaticism), it's their job to get to the bottom of things and by blaming the closest guy to the situation instead of finding the real culprit (McClatchy/Bonifay/Littlefield), they are not doing their jobs.
Sincerely,A media outlet should never refer to themselves as fans, they immediately discredit anything they say. That's why I never call myself a fan, it blinds you from the art of reason. I follow the Pirates, and I support the current ownership and management team. If only the PPG could at least do the former then maybe they could accept the latter. Unfortunately, they're just "a few Pirates fans."
More than a few Pirates fans
