He’s one of us.
Just a working stiff who happens to be an ink-stained newspaper wretch.
Bob Nutting started in the newspaper business as a reporter, advanced to president and CEO of a newspaper chain, and, these days receives checks with a lot more commas than almost any of us will see in our lifetimes.
Nutting now owns the Pittsburgh Pirates, and as daunting as the struggling newspaper business can be, just imagine being in his shoes.
Well, without the mansion and ski resorts, that is.
Nutting will sit down with the 29 other principal owners Thursday morning and listen to Commissioner Rob Manfred vigorously discuss revenue-sharing among teams for the next collective bargaining agreement, which expires in 10 months.
It will be the most important quarterly meeting in years, the owners insist, trying to find a way to make the game stronger, even healthier financially, and, somehow, keep everyone from strangling one another.
Let’s be honest: The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox will always have vastly larger revenue streams than the Pirates. The Dodgers’ $8.35 billion TV deal gives them resources beyond anyone’s imagination. The Chicago Cubs should have their own lucrative TV network in four years.
And the Pirates?
Hey, there’s only so many pierogies you can sell during a ballgame at PNC Park.
The Pirates were the darlings of baseball three years ago by ending their 20-year losing streak -- the longest in North American sports -- but now symbolize heartbreak in our game, losing back-to-back wild-card games.
“Just brutal,’’ Nutting said recently over a couple cups of coffee. “Gut-wrenching. Almost indescribably unpleasant.
“That’s why I wake up every morning and look forward.’’
The trouble is that every time he wakes up, and opens that morning paper, all he sees is news that’s petrifying to every small-market team in the business.
Let’s see, the Cubs just spent $276.25 million this winter in free agency.
The Pirates spent $13 million.
The Baltimore Orioles and Detroit Tigers spent $293 million on two players alone this past week, simply trying to upgrade their offense.
The Pirates, who let power-hitting first baseman Pedro Alvarez walk away because of his potential earnings in arbitration, replaced him by paying $8 million over two years to John Jaso, who has all of two games of experience at first base.
Jason Heyward received $184 million as the top free-agent position player on the market, and he turned down two offers that were even higher.
If Heyward is worth $23 million a year, what in the world will Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen command on the open market in three years, finishing in the top 5 in the last four MVP races?
“I’m not sure we’re allowed to sign lifetime agreements,’’ Nutting said, “but I’d love to see him stay with us forever. He’s been remarkable for the game, and for Pittsburgh, on-and-off-the field.”
Sorry, there aren’t enough new newspaper subscriptions in the world, let alone Nutting’s Ogden Newspapers chain, that could cover McCutchen’s next mega contract.
While life has been quite good of late for the Pirates, with three consecutive postseason berths while trying to win their first World Series since 1979, you wonder how long they can dare sustain it without a much bigger piece of the revenue-sharing pie?
The Oakland Athletics have come and gone before us. The Tampa Bay Rays had a nice run, but have finished next-to-last the past two seasons. The Cleveland Indians haven’t reached the World Series since 1997. Oh, where have you gone, Milwaukee?
The small-market teams have certainly had their moments through the years, but as the Pirates may soon have to embrace, it always comes to an abrupt end. The Pirates can’t be the Dodgers and simply pay $50 million to players no longer on their roster, or shrug their shoulders like the Red Sox if mega free-agent signings go bust.
“That’s the way the world works,’’ says Nutting, 53. “I think it’s true with everything we’ve done.
“This collective bargaining agreement is going to be critically important for everyone. It’s important the way we structure the economics of the game. It’s important that smaller-market teams have the same access to talent, which is almost more important than dollars.
“Would it be easier if there were changes? Sure. Would we rather have it easier? Sure.
“Will it ever be a level playing field? No. But will we ever use that to makes excuses? No.’’
Besides the amateur and international drafts, the free-agent compensation system, and all of the changes that will take place in the new collective bargaining agreement with the players union, the owners must decide whether they will dramatically alter luxury tax penalties. Will the tax threshold stay at $189 million? How high will it go, if at all? And will those penalties be much stiffer?
There were a record four teams that paid luxury tax penalties this year, but the Dodgers and Yankees paid nearly $70 million. The Red Sox and San Francisco Giants combined for only $3.1 million. The small-market clubs will let it be known that it’s hardly a big enough piece to split among themselves.
“We’re going to talk about every single thing,’’ Yankees principal owner Hal Steinbrenner said, “and revenue sharing will certainly be a part of that. Regardless of what I think, every collective bargaining agreement is a logical time to look at the whole system. To see how it’s affecting not just the payees, but the payers, and the industry as a whole. That’s what we’re going to do, and everybody knows that.’’
And a certain newspaper guy in Pittsburgh, along with his small-market friends, can’t wait to hear and read that final version.
“I’ll make sure our perspective is heard,’’ Nutting said, “and I have a lot of faith that Rob (Manfred) will take 30 different viewpoints, and pull them together in what ultimately is in the best interest of our game.
“We understand what the world is, and we’ll do the best we can. But we’re never going to say we need this, or we can’t compete.
“Just like newspapers. You have the large papers and the small ones. They can, and they do, behave differently. You just have to work with the best of what you can.’’
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