Blood Sucking Pirates

Today the Pittsburgh Pirates got thumped 10-2 by the St. Louis Cardinals to drop their record to an MLB worst 41-84.  This is nothing new for Pirates fan though as after 18 straight years of sub .500 baseball they have come to expect a terrible product and an October filled with baseball games that do not include the Pirates.  What Pittsburgh fans might not expect however is that their team, while awful, is making a profit and a sizable one at that.

Earlier this week the Associated Press reported that the Pittsburgh Pirates made nearly $30 million profit in 2007 and 2008 combined.  This information was contained within a 40 page document that the Pirates submitted to Major League Baseball last year and was subsequently leaked to the media.  Now Pirates ownership is scrambling to try and control the damage as fans are outraged at these recent findings.

But just how are the Pirates turning a profit with such a terrible on-field product?  Here is a breakdown for 2008:
   
Gate receipts                     $32,129,368    
Revenue sharing                $39,046,312    
Total club-gen. income      $76,017,669    
MLB revenue                    $69,975,768    
Total income                     $145,993,437    
Player salaries                   $51,040,233    
Total expend.                    $124,203,035    
Profit (after taxes)             $14,408,249

Basically the Pirates try and maintain the lowest payroll in the league and simply pocket all the money they make from revenue sharing and TV contracts.  Or in even simpler terms, they aren't trying to win baseball games.  One has only to look at the list of players they have either released or traded over the past few seasons to see that the Pirates have absolutely zero interest in putting a competitive team on the field.

All-Stars Jason Bay, Freddy Sanchez, Nate McLouth and Jack Wilson were all traded away for pretty much nothing. Ian Snell, Tom Gorzelanny, John Grabow, Xavier Nady, Adam LaRoche, Dimaso Marte, Nyjer Morgan, Ronny Paulino and Sean Burnett left via free agency. Jose Bautista, who tonight hit his 40th home run of the season was traded for a back up catcher and Matt Capps was released for asking for a raise of $500,000.

Fans have been pointing out the cheapness of Pirates owner Bob Nutting for years claiming that the team only cares about the bottom line and not about winning.  Team officials of course deny this by saying the club is in a rebuilding state and is trying to improve through the draft and the development of its prospects.  They also point to their brand new $5 million baseball academy in the Dominican Republic and a state of the art computer system designed for evaluating players. 

I would have an easier time believing that was the philosophy of the team if the club hadn't been so terrible for 18 years.  It doesn't take 18 seasons to rebuild a baseball team and make it even semi-competitive.  In fact in an 18 year span a team could go through a rebuilding phase, then a winning phase and then another rebuilding phase.  The idea that anyone could defend the financial management of this team with a straight face is ridiculous.

Obviously there are teams in MLB that win despite having a smaller payroll.  The San Diego Padres are currently leading their division and have the 3rd best record in baseball with a payroll in the bottom 1/3 of the league.  The Tampa Bay Rays went to the World Series two years ago with one of the smaller payrolls in baseball.  And of course there are the Minnesota Twins who are perpetually involved in the playoffs despite consistently having one of the smallest payrolls in the league.

What makes the Pirates so different is their prolonged awfulness.  This is a team that has won 5 World Series titles and won 9 division titles from 1969-1992.  This is a team that used to be relevant and not just the punchline of every baseball joke out there.  When you think of the Pirates you're supposed to think of guys like Roberto Clemente, Honus Wagner, Ralph Kiner and Willie Stargell.  How could a team with such a proud history possibly be this terrible?

After the documents were leaked MLB was quick to defend Bob Nutting and the Pirates.  Rob Manfred, MLBs executive director for labor relations told the AP in an email that, "The Pirates have fully complied with the Basic Agreement requirements for the use of revenue-sharing proceeds."

But that's the problem right there.  The Pirates do the 'minimum' to make sure they aren't breaking any rules.  They take revenue from the other teams in the league, revenue that is supposed to help fix the competitive balance, and instead of investing it in the club they pocket it.

People like Bob Nutting shouldn't be allowed to own a sports franchise.  What he and the Pittsburgh Pirates organization is doing is robbery plain and simple.  The money they take from revenue sharing is money other teams, like the Yankees and Red Sox, have earned and are forced to share with lesser teams around the league.  The fact that the Pirates simply take that money and use it to support other businesses and pay partners is criminal.

Lost in all of this financial talk are the fans.  The people of Pittsburgh love the Pirates and have been forced to watch these embarrassing teams for too long.  When PNC park was built in 2001 it was the tax payers who were left with much of the bill and what do they get in return for their money?  A team whose only All-Star representative was their closer, Evan Meek, a guy who will more than likely be traded or released by the start of next year.

The fans now have proof of what the have been suspecting for quite some time now.  They have evidence that Bob Nutting is a lying douchebag who has been taking money out of their pockets and putting it into his own.

David Berri of the North American Association of Sports Economists told ESPN, "the numbers indicate why people are suspecting they're taking money from baseball and keeping it -- they don't spend it on the players.  Teams have a choice. They can seek to maximize winning, what the Yankees do, or you can be the Pirates and make as much money as you can in your market. The Pirates aren't trying to win."

This is a story more people need to be aware of.  Instead of running 24/7 Brett Favre watch and constant updates on Tiger Woods' divorce why not shed more light on the travesty that is occurring in Pittsburgh.

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