Paul Skenes attitude towards Pirates

[ForeverRoyalKC]

I am getting to really be a fan of Skenes. His attitude towards the Pirates (actually towards the front office) is really refreshing and great to see. I'm a Royals fan and have no stake in the Pirates at all, but I have felt sorry for the Pirates fans. I hope Paul gives 'em hell and holds management's feet to the fire and keeps them there. I think he's got them where he wants them. We'll see. But it's great to see him publicly rattle the Pirate ship and fire a quiet but firm shot. More power to him!

[Brad K]

There were T shirts at spring training Sell The Buc'n Team

[Déjà Bru]

You know, we talked a bit in another thread about whether the average player values money over winning and other local intangibles (city, stadium, tradition, etc.). I believe the consensus was, money rules but only up to a point beyond which the other factors weigh in heavier.

The first thought that comes to mind when I read your post is, how long will Skenes stay in Pittsburgh? Yes, I know he's not a free agent until 2030 or so, leading to headlines and videos of commiseration such as this one:



Other talk centers around the Pirates trading Skenes for a bunch of prospects, especially as they near his free agency deadline. My point is, you just don't expect certain cities and franchises to hold onto their stars in professional sports.

But why can't that change? (Other than the persistence of cheap, inept ownership and management, that is.) That is what I think you are referring to in your post; i.e., Paul Skenes Gives Quote That Will Have Pittsburgh Loyalists Fired Up for Pirates '25

“I think we owe something to the city,” Skenes said. “We owe a lot to the city. It’s our job to go out and win for the city because this is bigger than all of us. There’s a reason why Cutch keeps coming back, and specifically to Pittsburgh. There’s something about this city. We saw it last summer. We’ve seen it in the videos of the Wild Card Game. I’m tired of watching them because it was a Wild Card Series. The bar needs to be set pretty high. Not taking anything from those guys. The fact that that’s a golden era of recent Pirates baseball, that needs to change. We owe it to the city.”

Hell yeah, and the city deserves it. Here is a young star who, instead of bemoaning his lot in life and counting down to his big payday in a major media market, is looking to turn things around in Pittsburgh and make the Pirates an honorable and enjoyable place to play baseball again.

A refreshing attitude, if genuine and lasting. And yes, it puts the pressure on where it belongs: ownership and management to stop accepting mediocrity at best.

[Cod]

I highly recommend y'all read the article Special report: The Pirates' finances will leave you at a loss at https://www.dkpittsburghsports.com/t...-mlb-dk?page=0 by Dejan Kovacevic. His team did some fantastic investigative journalism and found that the Pirates are indeed losing money and have had to take multiple loans from the bank of baseball (MLB's bank they setup after the Covid year). They have so much in loans that the team was embarrassed to discuss it. However, the club still confirmed all the findings.

If you don't want to read the article, Kovacevic appeared on FT recently to discuss the article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAgKQQJEZoI

So the Pirates aren't cheap, they're just run like crap and they don't understand how to build a fan base with loyalist who will spend money on the team.

[cojo82]

he hasn't pitched long enough for demands. i think the pirates will end up trading him.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by cojo82

he hasn't pitched long enough for demands. i think the pirates will end up trading him.

Which would be another example of why small market teams remain that way. If I am a Pirates fan and management did this after the local team spirit that Skenes evidenced, I thereafter find something better to do than attend Pirates home games or buy Pirates sports memorabilia.

It's like the Mets almost letting Pete Alonso walk away. Sure, it's a matter of money and how much teams can afford. But the Mets came up with the cash and, I daresay, still are making a profit.

Small-minded team owners stuck in small markets are a double whammy. Insurmountable and doomed to mediocrity at best. Pittsburgh isn't some out of the way burg:

As of the 2020 census, the Greater Pittsburgh region had a population of over 2.45 million people. Pittsburgh, the region's core city, has a population of 302,971, the second-largest in the state after Philadelphia. Over half of the region's population resides within Allegheny County, which has a population of 1.24 million and is the state's second-largest county after Philadelphia County.

It's not New York or L.A. but it's not Podonk, either. It ought to be able to attract enough folks to support paying a few stars.

And don't cry for team owner Bob Nutting, Argentina! According to this article (wade through the popups), “In its latest Business of Baseball tallies, Forbes ranked the Pirates as the third-most profitable team in the major leagues in 2023, with a net operating income of $68 million.” Does he make as much as Steve Cohen? Probably not. But he does alright.

I have come to the opinion that professional leagues do a good job of locating team franchises. There are none that suffer solely because of the lack of potential fans. It's cheap and incompetent owners that cause teams to wither in places like Oakland and Miami and Pittsburgh.

EDIT: I am aware of how what I said about the Pirates profitability conflicts with what Cod brought up above. Admittedly, his source reads as scholarly. Nevertheless, read the article that I linked to for a perspective on this. You know, accounting really is not an exact science on a certain level. It is subject to P.R. spin, by writers as well as owners.