Pirates Owner Nutting Takes Heat For Agreeing To New MLB Pact

Pittsburgh PA

11 March, 2022

11:47 AM

Description

PITTSBURGH, PA — Baseball is back, and Pirates fans are collectively yawning - and very irate that team owner Bob Nutting helped approve changes to the game that seemingly will hurt the franchise. Major League Baseball owners and the players union approved a five-year collective bargaining agreement Thursday that appears to be beneficial to large market teams such as the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers, while detrimental to small market teams such as the Pirates and Kansas City Royals. For example, the highest competitive balance large market teams pay after exceeding a certain player salary threshold starts at $60 million instead of $40 million. The threshold itself will rise from $233 million in 2023 to $240 million in 2026, meaning large market teams will have millions more to spend on player salaries and free agent signings than they now do. Also, the team that finishes with baseball's worst record - as the Pirates did in 2020 - no longer is guaranteed the first pick in the next year's player draft. Instead, the worst six teams will be in a lottery for the top pick. Considering that the Pirates finished with one of the worst records in baseball last year and are expected to do so again in 2022, fans were not happy that Nutting was among those approving the changes. Some social media samples: Dejan Kovacevic: "Bob Nutting voted yes on an agreement that'll keep killing baseball in Pittsburgh, so he must think it's fine. OK, then, let's see a $100M payroll in 2023 or a sale of the franchise."Steel City Nation: "Bob Nutting voted yes to a deal that basically guarantees the Pirates continue to decline. I'll be highlighting the deal in further tweets. But the agreement basically helps the high paying teams and kills the small market teams."Chad: "Day Nutting sells should be a parade in Pittsburgh. Sadly, Nutting probably just laughs at us. Pirates a cash cow that keeps on lining Bob's pocket."Adam Perry: "43 years since the #Pirates have won a playoff series. How much longer must we wait? By voting for the new CBA, Bob Nutting revealed that he does not care about a salary cap or a salary floor or winning and is just happy to own an MLB team."John Steigerwald: "Bob Nutting should've been all over the media for the last 3 months making a case for a salary cap and he should have been joined by several other owners. Nobody cares about the bonus pool, the luxury tax or when players are eligible for arbitration except players and owners."Be the first to know what's happening in your community and region. With a free Patch subscription, you'll always be up to date on local and state news: https://patch.com/subscribe.