In all the furor over the Pirates’ leaked financial records, one aspect that’s enraged some Pirate fans yet received little attention outside Pittsburgh was...
The long-held assumption among many has been that Bob Nutting is pocketing a fortune as the Pirates principal owner. Now that it has become apparent that the team is making just a modest profit, the complaints among frustrated Pirates fans has shifted to a more relevant issue. Should a team receiving significant revenue sharing be permitted to show even one dollar of profit?
Many fans got their wish today, as the Pirates opened their books to the public. Sort of. After financial records were leaked to the Associated Press, Bob Nutting and Frank Coonelly preemptively revealed the leaked details to local media members. I am far from an expert on finances, so I will just stick to a few of my general reactions.
Pirates general manager Neal Huntington was on The Fan morning show on Tuesday, discussing Monday night’s draft signing deadline. He talked about Jameson Taillon, Stetson Allie, a few 2009 draftees and some issues involving the major league team. For some reason, he made people angry.
If you don’t trust Bob Nutting, that’s fine. I’m not sure I completely trust him myself. But let’s knock him for things we know for certain, not for commonly accepted “realities” that are unsubstantiated and, honestly, don’t make a whole lot of sense.