If I had a dime for every time I've heard someone say ...
"The Pirates are dead to me."
"I'll never go to another game as long as Nutting owns the team."
"They can keep their fireworks and bobblehead nights. I ain't going!"
I would be a very rich man.
You know, like Bob Nutting.
I just don't believe what I'm hearing.
Don't get me wrong. I get the frustration. I get the anger. I get the apathy. The Pirates deserve all of it. They are a pathetic organization, one that has had losing seasons in 25 of the past 29 years, one that is coming off the franchise's worst 2 1/2 -season stretch in more than 65 years. A 101-loss season last year, just the ninth 100-loss season in the team's 140-year history. An MLB-worst 19-41 record in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. A 4-25 start after the All-Star break and second-half record of 25-48 in 2019, leading to the firing of Frank Coonelly, Neal Huntington and Clint Hurdle.
As if that isn't bad enough, the Pirates are coming off two fresh public-relations blunders. There might be a worse franchise in all of pro sports — I honestly can't think of one at the moment — but there can't be a more tone-deaf franchise.
Why would the Pirates pick an ugly fight with their best player, Bryan Reynolds, by taking him to salary arbitration over a difference of $650,000? That doesn't just make Nutting look cheap, it makes him look petty. The worst part is Reynolds' hearing probably won't be until after opening day. Talk about an unnecessary distraction.
A second question about more inexplicable nonsense: Why would the Pirates send down their best prospect, Oneil Cruz?
The team easily could lose 100 games again this season. Why not give what few fans who are left at the moment something to be excited about? So what if Cruz struggles? Send him down later if that happens. The only thing I can conclude is the franchise wants to delay his arbitration clock. That doesn't just make Nutting look cheap, it makes him look greedy.
I'm pretty sure you nodded your head in agreement if you saw a tweet last week from San Francisco Giants outfielder Joc Pederson when he listed the three lowest-payroll teams in baseball — Cleveland at $35.6 million, the Pirates at $35.25 million and Baltimore at $30.3 million:
Embarrassed for your fan base ... Be better. If you can't, sell ur team to somebody that wants to show the fan base and baseball they're at least trying to compete. Sorry unacceptable."
Of course, you agreed and said, "Damn right!"
I get all of it.
But I also know this isn't the first time fans have sworn off the Pirates.
Go back to 1985, when the team drew just 735,900 to Three Rivers Stadium. That was the year it went 57-104. That might have been the highlight of the season. That was the summer of the Pittsburgh Drug Trials. Players were buying and using cocaine in the clubhouse. The city was embarrassed of its baseball team on a national stage.
I still remember new general manager Syd Thrift saying at the time, "It ain't easy resurrecting the dead."
But resurrect, they did.
Jim Leyland took over as manager in 1986. The Pirates built around young star Barry Bonds. By 1990, they were winning division championships — three in a row — and drawing 2 million fans.
Go back to 2010. The Pirates went 57-105 in John Russell's final season as manager. The future couldn't have looked much bleaker.
But Hurdle took over the next season. The Pirates built around young star Andrew McCutchen. By 2013, they were a playoff team — three years in a row — and drawing more than 2 million.
I don't know if these Pirates will develop a Bonds or a McCutchen. Maybe Cruz will be that player. I'm willing to give Ben Cherington a chance to see if he can duplicate Thrift's magic.
But I do know this:
Winning cures everything.
Winning makes people forget the brutal times.
Winning brings people back to the ballpark.
