Owner tells Pirates: Ignore last 15 years

After changing the front office, owner Bob Nutting is challenging the players.

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — The Pittsburgh Pirates changed plenty in the front office during the off-season. Now, owner Bob Nutting is putting the responsibility for an improved record on the players.

“I hope they can see in the year that’s gone by the real changes we’ve put in place,” Nutting said Thursday. “We’re committed to being a first-class organization, from the new leadership team to the new coaching staff to the tools we’re giving them to succeed.

“And now, really, the responsibility, the accountability is shifting onto the field. It’s time for everyone to perform.”

Since taking over as principal owner in January 2007, Nutting has replaced nearly everyone in the team’s hierarchy, including hiring Frank Coonelly as team president last September.

Coonelly had been chief legal counsel for Major League Baseball. Once he arrived, Coonelly replaced most of the upper tier of the baseball operations staff.

Nutting, Coonelly and others addressed all 65 players in camp for a half-hour inside a Pirate City cafeteria. Among the points they emphasized was that it was time for the Pirates to not feel burdened by a 15-year losing streak that is one shy of the longest in professional sports history.

The 1933-48 Philadelphia Phillies had 16 consecutive losing seasons.

“We have a 15-year stretch that we can’t dwell on,” Nutting said. “For most of our history, the Pittsburgh Pirates have been a tremendous, respected franchise, with players who were proud to wear the uniform, who had an expectation of excellence. I believe we’re in a position now to begin that execution.”

The challenge for the Pirates is that they were 68-94 last season and did little more than tinker with the roster in the off-season. The overwhelming majority of change that new management implemented was systematic.

That has led to some in the team’s fan base doubting whether anything really will be different, especially in 2008.

“We can’t worry about skepticism,” Coonelly said. “We’re moving forward. We’re starting now. As I told the players, they do not own the last 15 years of losing baseball in Pittsburgh, and they shouldn’t be defined by it.”

Nutting said he believed the Pirates can contend in the Central Division, though he stopped well short of a firm prediction.

“I certainly believe that,” he said. “I’ve never professed to be an evaluator of baseball talent, so I trust the guys we have in place to make those decisions. But the optimism I’ve heard, the enthusiasm I’ve seen, certainly gives me a wonderful feeling.”

The other aspect that some in Pittsburgh doubt that ownership will raise payroll. The Pirates’ projected $50 million payroll is about the same as last season, and will likely rank fourth-lowest in the majors.

Nutting said that, “depending on the circumstances,” he will raise payroll if his baseball people ask.

“What we’ve worked to do it to put the team in a position that we can react opportunistically, that we don’t have tight financial constraints that hold us back. When we do that, it’s never going to be about the total dollars, it’s going to be about the right choices. In the past, we’ve had dollars available, as well. We need to make the right choices.”