Will Tondo
Aug 4, 20222 min
With one of the worst records in baseball, the lowest payroll in all of the MLB ($65M), and on pace for the worst season in their team history isn't enough to knock some sense into Pittsburgh's ownership, you'd think a t-shirt mocking them would wake them up.
Think again. Robert Nutting, who's owned the team since 2007, happily poses with a fan, and even smiles after looking at the guys shirt, which proudly states "Sell The Team". What a world...
Known as "Bottom-Line Bob", he's been considered one of the worst and cheapest owners in sports, despite being the 10th richest in all of MLB. Pirates have constantly been in the bottom third of payroll under his direct ownership. They haven't won a World Series since 1979 and have only made the postseason six times in the last four decades.
He boasts a record of 1111-1318, with a 1-2 Wild Card record, and a Divisional Series loss. The highlight of his tenure was the three-year period from 2013 to 2015 when Pittsburgh compiled a 280–206 record (. 576 winning percentage). It hasn't been so pretty since then. He's traded away one of baseball's best pitchers in Gerrit Cole, and NL MVP Andrew McCutchen, along with Starling Marte, Jameson Taillon, Neil Walker, Francisco Liriano, AJ Burrnett, Josh Harrison, Mark Melancon, Charlie Morton, and Josh Bell. Yikes.
Not as bad as what Nationals, Athletic, and Tigers fans have gone through, but still very rough.
Unfortunately for fans, the Nutting won't sell the team anytime soon. He has turned down bids by Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Pittsburgh Penguins owners Mario Lemieux & Ron Burkle, as well as Pittsburgh Steelers minority owner Thomas Tull.
At least they can enjoy their budding superstar (for now).