Same old.  75 wins or bust again next year boys!   The rest of the NL Central won't stand still.  We will.

Those of you who buy tickets, buy merchandise and most of all buy the crap from the BMTIS, you are enabling this.

DONT GO!   I don't care if you like baseball.  I like bacon.  I know I cannot eat bacon because it is bad for me.   

DONT GO!  At least the opener.  Want to send a message?   Boycott the opener.  Seriously.   That would get national attention.

The Pirates' organization is a complete joke, it's sickening.  I don't care how many times Nutting publicly says that he is committed to winning, he's not showing proof of that "commitment" to winning.  The only commitment he has is making money, whether the team is winning or losing.

MLB needs to investigate the organization, from top to bottom.  There are so many questions.

SteelRun wrote: The Pirates' organization is a complete joke, it's sickening.  I don't care how many times Nutting publicly says that he is committed to winning, he's not showing proof of that "commitment" to winning.  The only commitment he has is making money, whether the team is winning or losing.

MLB needs to investigate the organization, from top to bottom.  There are so many questions.

I think MLB already has.  That's why Coonelly was sent here, ie, to "make sure things were being done the right way".  Unfortunately Coonelly is, himself, demonstrably incompetent about a lot of things.  I'm not going to say everything, because he may well be very good with numbers and the business side.  Dunno.  I'm not there to see how he does any of that.  But certainly the rest of his performance, to say nothing of his public, professional demeanor, leaves a lot to be desired.

I don't know what you guys are complaining about.  Bob Nutting just completed a thorough inspection of the entire organization, from top to bottom.

The fact that he apparently found no issues and thus took no actions is beside the point. 

The Pittsburgh Pirates are really the Nutting Pirates.  We as fans may as well be a fan of Highmark or Alcoa.  The franchise continues to increase in value.  It's kind of fun owning a baseball team and their are really only a few fans that get in Nuttings face each year.  What you really want to do as an owner is enjoy the limelight when things are going well and hire others to take the brunt when they are not.  In the meantime, you keep looking for that ultimate valuation of your franchise.  When you hit that you sell and look at the next business interest. 

Nutting can say, and I believe correctly, that every dime that comes into the organization is reinvested in the organization.  His payday is when he sells.  Until then the Pirates are kind of like those pieces of art hanging in his house - continually increasing in value.

Sangue wrote: The Pittsburgh Pirates are really the Nutting Pirates.  We as fans may as well be a fan of Highmark or Alcoa.  The franchise continues to increase in value.  It's kind of fun owning a baseball team and their are really only a few fans that get in Nuttings face each year.  What you really want to do as an owner is enjoy the limelight when things are going well and hire others to take the brunt when they are not.  In the meantime, you keep looking for that ultimate valuation of your franchise.  When you hit that you sell and look at the next business interest. 

Nutting can say, and I believe correctly, that every dime that comes into the organization is reinvested in the organization.  His payday is when he sells.  Until then the Pirates are kind of like those pieces of art hanging in his house - continually increasing in value.

The team continues to be very profitable.  While the owners are probably correct in saying that they are not taking money out of the team, they are using the profits to pay down the team's (once high) debt -- which is good both for the organization in general long-term and for the owners themselves, since it increases the value of their ownership interests.

gr1111 wrote:

The team continues to be very profitable.  While the owners are probably correct in saying that they are not taking money out of the team, they are using the profits to pay down the team's (once high) debt -- which is good both for the organization in general long-term and for the owners themselves, since it increases the value of their ownership interests.

Where is the debt at now?  Last I heard (a few years ago) it was around $100 million.

Maybe. It looks like Coonelly has no idea what the hell he is doing or just doesn't do anything.  To oversee an organization that has military-style training for prospects and people running these programs with no prior baseball experience... that kind of stupidity is unheard of in other baseball cities.  But not in Pittsburgh!  

williamjpellas wrote:

SteelRun wrote: The Pirates' organization is a complete joke, it's sickening.  I don't care how many times Nutting publicly says that he is committed to winning, he's not showing proof of that "commitment" to winning.  The only commitment he has is making money, whether the team is winning or losing.

MLB needs to investigate the organization, from top to bottom.  There are so many questions.

I think MLB already has.  That's why Coonelly was sent here, ie, to "make sure things were being done the right way".  Unfortunately Coonelly is, himself, demonstrably incompetent about a lot of things.  I'm not going to say everything, because he may well be very good with numbers and the business side.  Dunno.  I'm not there to see how he does any of that.  But certainly the rest of his performance, to say nothing of his public, professional demeanor, leaves a lot to be desired.

Sangue wrote:

gr1111 wrote:

The team continues to be very profitable.  While the owners are probably correct in saying that they are not taking money out of the team, they are using the profits to pay down the team's (once high) debt -- which is good both for the organization in general long-term and for the owners themselves, since it increases the value of their ownership interests.

Where is the debt at now?  Last I heard (a few years ago) it was around $100 million.

I don't know.  I'll see if I can find it.