Kingerski: MLB Must End Bob Nutting’s Destruction

The imagery of an empty PNC Park is inescapable, and a desperate city has no alternative but to beg Major League Baseball for help to force an owner to properly spend the resources we and they have given or force his removal.

Pittsburgh was once a baseball town. Far more than hockey, Pittsburghers went to the ballpark. We survived the cocaine scandal of the 1980s, the steroid ball of the 1990s, and the painful lessons of a stubborn left fielder in 1992 who refused to take a few steps forward to be able to throw out a hobbled Atlanta Braves first baseman and preserve a possible trip to the World Series.

We have survived it all.

But the scandals, embarrassments, and disappointments were no match for the cheap owner Bob Nutting, who wields an ax on spreadsheets and a fan’s love like Lizzy Borden with a grudge.

Nutting’s latest maneuver has absolutely destroyed any remaining credibility that he or the franchise had. It’s not GM Ben Cherington or even manager Derek Shelton’s fault. Well, they share in the blame for the abysmal tank in the second half of the season, but they have no hand in the continuing franchise destruction by the financially obsessed Nutting.

Cherington should have publicly outed Nutting, just as Nutting did to him, and blow the whistle on this travesty of ownership.

Recall earlier this season when Nutting tossed his people under the bus, claiming they had more resources to build a winner. A few boiled over and shared their disgust at those comments with our John Perrotto.

Read More: Source: Pirates Front Office Was Furious With Bob Nutting’s Comments

The latest and perhaps most egregious cost-cutting nonsense occurred Tuesday when the Pirates DFA’d first-baseman Rowdy Tellez, who was just four plate appearances shy of a $200,000 bonus.

The Great Lie

Yep, the Pirates cut him loose rather than pay him. Of course, they said it’s not about the money. This is parallel to the same belligerent lie about desperately wanting to be competitive. We’ve been fed the chocolate-covered falsehood for too long.

You know what they say: your first billion is the hardest to bilk.

Nutting, whose net worth is well over a billion dollars thanks in large part to buying the Pirates for a mere $92 million and then pocketing the bounty from taxpayers and Major League Baseball revenue sharing for nearly 25 years, remains quite possibly the worst owner in professional sports. It’s not that Nutting makes poor decisions; it’s that he exclusively makes self-enriching decisions at the expense of what is supposed to be the mission of a baseball team.

Imagine those poor suckers who earn their money?

You’re welcome, Bob. Can we give you another billion for absolutely nothing in return? How about two more? Hey, it’s worked for two decades. Perhaps by the end of this third decade, Nutting will have slaughtered the last residual feelings of love that fans have for the franchise with more subpar payrolls far below the Pirates’ actual means.

Sure, the Pirates want to win, but they have not now, nor has this owner ever sacrificed to do so. What if spending more money doesn’t bring a winner? Nutting’s net worth might fall from $1.1 billion to just a billion. In this economy?!

Rookie phenom pitcher Paul Skenes filled PNC Park this summer, and tickets were, at times, hard to find. The Pirates were in contention. Money was rolling in.

But money doesn’t roll out. Not even for minuscule bonuses.

Fans Upheld the Bargain

Wasn’t fan participation always part of the deal? If fans showed up, Nutting would spend. Most of us learned a long time ago that was just part of the big lie.

The latest insult is bewildering in his petty scope. With full stadiums and growing TV revenues, the Pirate’s management was, in all likelihood, forced to screw over a loyal soldier whose performance was not worthy of walking papers.

And we wonder why free agents hang up the phone when the Pirates call.

Chopping Tellez is just more embarrassment caused by a penny-pinching billionaire who didn’t earn his money but took it from us because he pounced on an investment when the previous owner had to sell at the low point.

I think back to my own Pirates fandom and it might be like yours. There were times when I watched most of the 162. I popped champagne with a little mist in my eyes when the Pirates beat the Texas Rangers to snap the cursed 20-year losing season streak. Finally.

I watched the blogs and minor league reports every day when Zach Duke and Paul Maholm were top prospects. And again when GM Neal Huntingdon was revamping the organization.

I remember thinking the Pirates franchise had finally turned the corner with three straight wild-card game appearances from 2013-2015 and a full stadium for months. But then Lizzy, er, Bob, whacked his team’s payroll 41 times despite fans exceeding their obligations.

And with his lies and empty promises, and miserly ways, he lost this fan. I watch under protest because it’s my job to stay informed, I can’t tell you the last time I sat and watched Pittsburgh Pirates baseball for the sheer joy of a ballgame.

Wait. I did so for Skenes’s first game. Before that, it might have been taking my son to see Gerrit Cole’s first game.

Nope. It’s Bob again embarrassing us and again destroying the fanbase that he’s bled almost dry.

Sad Next Chapters

What happens when Skenes rightfully bolts this unserious organization?

Perhaps if the Pirates don’t care, neither should we.

MLB has ignored our pleas for help. The Players Union might be able to do more, but we’re in uncharted territory. Other owners have pleaded poverty or pocketed the money, but none have done it so brazenly for so long as to destroy a fanbase—a fanbase that needs only the slightest encouragement to lavish the club with attention and the accompanying revenues.

I remain convinced there must be language in the Stadium Authority’s lease that gives taxpayers the authority to withhold money. The stadium construction agreement was signed despite the overwhelming objection of voters so that the Pirates “could be competitive.” Surely, there must be an out clause to take PNC Park away from the Grinch Who Stole Baseball.

Money is the only thing Nutting has embraced, and it’s about time we withheld it. We pay extra pennies or dollars with every beer and every purchase in the city which only further enriches Nutting by paying for that beautiful ballpark.

If that doesn’t make you sick when you look at your receipts, nothing will.

The robber barons on Federal Street can tell us they want to win, and I can tell you I want to golf with Page Spiranac. Neither is happening because we’re both putting in the same detached lack of effort to achieve that goal. Actions are greater than words.

This isn’t really about Tellez, for whom $200,000 is not going to make or break his financial future. It’s about Nutting and integrity. It’s about the Pirates once again embarrassing us, taking our money, and spitting in our faces while promising a towel and brighter days ahead that we know will never arrive.

If denying money to players with dishonest terminations isn’t enough to get the Union hopping mad, nothing will. It looks like we’re on our own. But one last time, MLB, please help.