Three of Major League Baseball’s 30 franchises have been sold over the course of the past five years. The Minnesota Twins could soon become the fourth, with a few others (including the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Angels) spending time on the market without a deal being completed. It’s enough to give fans tired of their team’s steward hope that perhaps their club will be the next to change hands.
Be that as it may be, don’t expect Pittsburgh Pirates owner Bob Nutting to be the next to get out of the baseball business.
On Saturday, Pirates CEO Travis Williams was inundated with supporters chanting “sell the team” during a Q&A session at the team’s fan fest event, which Nutting did not attend. Williams took the opportunity to shut down the possibility. “To answer your immediate question that you said earlier, Bob is not going to sell the team,” he said, according to ESPN. “He cares about Pittsburgh, he cares about winning, he cares about us putting a winning product on the field, and we’re working towards that every day.”
Nutting has owned the Pirates since January 2007, overseeing four winning seasons in 18 attempts. Three of those four were clustered from 2013-15. Nutting has long drawn criticism for his unwillingness to invest more money in the team, with the Pirates ranking in the bottom five of Opening Day payroll in each season since 2018. That, plus the poor on-field results, have ensured Pirates fans’ frosty view of Nutting — a dynamic that CBS Sports documented nearly six years ago. (It should be noted that leaked financial documents from 2007-08 reveal the club was profitable all the while the team continued its lengthy playoff drought.)
It’s unsurprising that criticism of Nutting has again hit a fever pitch: the Pirates have several bright young stars, including right-handers Paul Skenes and Jared Jones, and an apparent need for offensive upgrades that could push them closer to postseason contention. Yet the only hitter they’ve added externally this winter has been first baseman Spencer Horwitz, obtained in a trade with the Cleveland Guardians. (The Pirates did bring back franchise icon Andrew McCutchen for another season.)
The Pirates have won 76 games in each of the past two years.
