Bob Nutting Should Be Fired by the Pittsburgh Pirates

I know, I know.  The Pittsburgh Pirates can't fire their owner.  But if there ever was an owner that deserved to be fired, Bob Nutting is the one. 

If you don’t believe me, let's look at the facts from a 30,000 foot view.

He is not good at his job.  

He only stays at his job to collect money, while providing no value to the organization.  

He doesn’t try to improve the results of his organization, and many times the organization fails because of his efforts, or lack thereof.  

Doesn’t that sound like someone who should be fired?

What Bob Nutting has done as owner of the Pirates is an utter disgrace.  He got lucky for 3 years from 2013-2015, when Andrew McCutchen vaulted the Pirates into the spotlight as serious contenders. 

But after 2015, when they had the second best record in baseball, he quickly dismantled the team for “baseball reasons”, but we all know the real reason.  Bob Nutting didn’t want to spend the money to keep the core together.

People argue that he should spend more money on the team, but why should he?  He has a business that is printing cash, and nobody is requiring him to spend more money on the product.  We’re just consuming it.  It's like he owns a vending machine company, fills them with turd sandwiches, watches us eat them, and then laughs while he counts the money.

If his goal were to win, then yes, he should spend more money.  But at this point it's obvious that winning is not his primary objective.  If it were, he would not be spending less money on payroll than anyone outside of the Oakland soon-to-be Las Vegas A’s.  The Pirates opening day payroll was over $20 million dollars less than the Cleveland Guardians, a city similar in size to Pittsburgh.  TWENTY MILLION!  

Imagine what the 2024 Pirates would have looked like had they spent an extra $20 million.  Would they have been the ‘27 Yankees?  No.  Could they have put out a lineup that had all legitimate Major Leaguers on it?  Yes.

Imagine that, a Major League Baseball team, full of Major Leaguers!

Outside of competing now, Bob Nutting should spend more money just to show Paul Skenes he has a chance to win something in Pittsburgh.  It’s not too early to wonder if the pitching phenom is already looking around seeing a bunch of sub .200 batting averages as his supporting cast and wondering, “how long do I have to be here?”

Don’t believe me?  Just look at Livy Dunne posting a gif of Skenes saying “You gotta be kidding me” after the Pirates blew a 10-3 in one of his recent starts.  

This team was somehow in a playoff race, until the end of July.  The stadium was packed, every 6-7 days was a Skene's Day in the city.  The Pirates were raking in the cash, while spending very little.

Profits were up, while the overhead stayed the same.  Nutting should have capitalized on the momentum.  Any true business man would know that spending the profits, at the right time, would yield, you know, more profits.  It also would have yielded more winning.

But no, he stood pat.  He didn’t risk it.  He played it safe.

Now the Pirates are back in the basement.  The buzz for the team is gone.  The seats that could have made Nutting more money, are now mostly empty.  Nobody cares again.  Which is what happens when you have an owner counting pennies instead of wins.

At the risk of repeating something that countless people have said before.  

Spend Nutting, Win Nutting.  

The Pirates can’t fire Bob Nutting unfortunately.  

The team will continue to be a sham, in a few years Paul Skenes will be a New York Yankee, and there is Nutting any of us can do about it.