While a clear majority of Major League Baseball's owners wanted to play the fewest possible number of games in 2020, Bob Nutting and the Pirates were pushing for precisely the opposite.
A management source this week told me -- and a source in the players' union confirmed -- that Nutting had been vocally in favor of playing 82 games, the most proposed at any point in the contentious negotiations that eventually wound up with Rob Manfred forcibly implementing the 60-game schedule we'll now see. The lowest figure broached at any point was 48.
So, why was Nutting in favor while others were opposed?
Let's start here: It sure wasn't to save money.
The Pirates, like all 30 teams, will lose money with every home game that's played without fans. Manfred's office estimated that'll be $640,000 per game, on average, though the union hotly disputed that. The Pirates will lose less than that, for sure, as the teams with the greatest crowd revenues -- the Yankees, Dodgers, etc. -- hugely skew that average. But they'll still lose money for all 30 games hosted at PNC Park this summer.
Presuming the Pirates lose half of Manfred's estimate -- $320,000 per game -- that's still nearly $10 million.
Now, it'll help the bottom line, of course, that the projected full-season payroll of $51 million was the majors' lowest. But the team absolutely will still lose money in 2020, I'm emphatically assured. And within that, the more games that got played, the more they'd lose money.
So, again, why was Nutting in favor?
Well, here's the part the cynics won't be able to stand: He really just wanted to see the Pirates get back on the field. Anyone who knows Nutting personally can attest his passion for charity is genuine. He's put that on display his entire life. And what he'd hoped, particularly in the earlier days of the pandemic, was to see baseball play a pivotal role in lifting people's spirits by being back on, say, the Fourth of July. It would've been a big boost to the game, as well as to everyone involved with the Pirates.
All concerned will have to settle for the start of Summer Camp on this very Friday morning.
MORE PIRATES
• I've heard the shakeup in baseball operations might be more elaborate than initially believed. A source told me last week it was originally around 15 people, but another source said this week that it is closer to 22 once changes in the minor leagues are taken into consideration. These aren't necessarily layoffs since those affected will still be paid through October, but this is Ben Cherington's first significant shakeup to the front office. He was hired in mid-November last year and had to immediately throw himself into finding a manager. By the time that was done in early December, there was not much time to make major changes to his unit, as most of the people across baseball who were looking for a job or a change had found their new teams. It looks like this offseason will be another busy one for him as he starts to mold the front office into what he wants it to be. -- Alex Stumpf on the North Shore
• The Twins made headlines this week when they changed the roles for two of their older coaches, having them take remote positions since they would be more at risk for COVID-19. The Pirates' coaching staff is younger than most -- with the only notable exception being major league coach Glenn Sherlock, who is 59 -- so they do not expect any changes to coaching staff because of the virus. "We’ve talked about it," Derek Shelton said during a recent Zoom call. "And we’re very much aware of the health of our coaches, the health of our staff and how they’re going about it, and at no point ever would we put anyone in a situation that we feel that they would be in jeopardy to themselves or to someone else, so our staff has been fine." -- Stumpf
• Shelton threw a wet blanket on a potential third base battle this week, saying the Pirates "don’t think it’s (the third base job) an open competition." That would signal that it's still Colin Moran's job, at least for now, which would decrease Ke'Bryan Hayes' chances of making the opening day roster. "With Key, he had a really good spring. We realize there are things to do development-wise, and we have to continue to work through those things," Shelton said. Players will still accrue a full year of service time this year, so each day will be scaled. In a 66-calendar-day season, that would mean Hayes would be credited with a full year if he is on the roster for at least 61 days. If it's 60 or fewer, the Pirates still maintain that sixth year of control. Shelton said he expects other people to play third over the course of the year, which means Hayes' chances of debuting this year are still good. -- Stumpf
PENGUINS
• When NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced the NHL's "Return to Play" plans in late April, he said the start of the start of the 2020-21 season could be pushed back as far as December because of this year's Stanley Cup playoffs extending into late summer or early fall, and league officials have insisted they intend to get in a full 82-game schedule then by eliminating things like the all-star break, "bye weeks," etc. However, a source familiar with some of the league's thinking -- none of which appears to have produced firm plans for next season yet -- insists neither is likely to play out that way. Play in 2020-21 will not get underway "until at least the middle of January," the source said, because the NHL, which relies heavily on gate receipts, wants to maximize the chances that fans will be allowed to attend games, something not possible this summer because of the coronavirus pandemic. As for playing 82 games, the source pointed out, quite obviously and logically, that kicking off a full schedule three or more months later than usual would have a ripple effect that would extend into subsequent seasons, sabotaging the league's stated desire to have operations back to normal by the 2021-22 season. The source said 82 games is "not happening" because "at some point, you have to get back on some sort of a normal schedule." -- Dave Molinari on the North Shore
• The 2019-20 season has, of course, been unlike any other in NHL history, and that also is true of the 24-team field scheduled to compete for the Stanley Cup. But while there are some who believe that the Cup-winning club's achievement should carry an asterisk because of the shortened regular season and unusual postseason circumstances, Jim Rutherford forcefully disagrees. "I would look at it (like any other)," he said. "I can't speak for how other people are going to view it. ... I'll say the obvious, that it's not going to be the same, not going to be the same excitement without the fans, but everybody has to adjust in these times, and that's one of the adjustments we have to make for this given year. But whoever wins the Cup deserves it. (No asterisk) for me. If a team wins it from the play-in group, it's even more to their credit, because they had to play an extra series to do it." -- Molinari
• Many of the details of the NHL's postseason have yet to be worked, but if the league sticks to its plan to have all games played in two "hub" cities, clubs that go deep into the playoffs could log about two months on the road. Matt Murray told a conference call recently that spending so much time with teammates "would be a huge bonding experience," and it's hard to disagree. But regardless of how accurate Murray's observation was, he didn't express it in a way nearly as entertaining as Petr Nedved once did. When asked about a long road trip for which the Penguins were preparing, and the opportunities players would have to get to know each other better on a personal level, Nedved paused to consider the question, then nodded and responded earnestly that, "There will be a lot of bondage going on." -- Molinari
STEELERS
• The Steelers are down to less than two weeks remaining to negotiate a long-term deal with franchise-tagged Bud Dupree before negotiations have to be shut down. But to this point, there have been NO negotiations. Teams have until 4 p.m. July 15 to work out new deals with their franchise players. But there has been no movement on any of those guys with any of their respective teams. The best guess is Dak Prescott and the Cowboys will be the only situation where a franchise player gets a new deal. And that one's not guaranteed. We still don't know what the 2021 revenue stream is going to be. And until teams know that, they can't commit long-term money to any player. -- Dale Lolley on the North Shore
• Players talking about holding out in training camp until they get a new deal are doing just that -- talking. The new CBA signed earlier this year makes fines -- $40,000 per day -- mandatory. And, unlike the old days, when a player would simply report and sign a new deal and the fine would be rescinded, these fines cannot be waived. So, skip the first five days of camp and it's a $200,000 fine. Skip 10 days, it's $400,000. And there's nothing the team or player can do about it. The caveats, as the Steelers found during the Le'Veon Bell situation in 2018, is with players who have had the franchise tag placed on them but have not signed it and rookies. Those players are not technically signed to their deals. At this point, less than half of the league's rookie class has yet to sign a contract. And that includes the entire Steelers rookie class. But those players aren't subject to those fines. So, as much as players who are under contract such as Jamal Adams, Joe Mixon and Dalvin Cook talk about not reporting until they get new deals, it's unlikely to happen. That's why, as much as Adams talks about wanting out of New York, the Jets aren't likely to move him unless somebody bowls them over with an offer. Adams has no leverage. -- Lolley
• The Steelers have led the NFL in sacks in each of the past three seasons and are a good bet to do so again in 2020. How rare is leading the league in sacks three years in a row? Consider that since the sack first became considered an official statistic in 1982, the Steelers have now led the NFL in sacks six times. No other team has led the league more than three times. So, the Steelers leading the NFL in sacks three years in a row hasn't been done before -- at least not with the sack being an official stat. -- Lolley
PITT
• Jackie Sherrill was Jimbo Covert's head coach at Pitt during the offensive tackle's first four seasons (1978-81) with the program. For Covert's redshirt senior season, Foge Fazio was coach. Covert's head coach during his eight-year NFL career with the Bears was Mike Ditka, another Pitt guy. Covert, who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame next August as part of the Centennial Class of 2020, talked about the differences in each earlier this week. As for Sherrill, Covert said, "He had tremendous respect for his players. He always said, 'Players make a team great, coaches don't.' I wouldn't say he was a disciplinarian, but you knew what the rules were, and you didn't cross the line. Jackie treated you like a man, but sure, when we went to a bowl game, we had a lot of fun. Still, when the time came to go, we were ready." Covert said Fazio, who took over in 1982, had a different approach. "It wasn't the same type of atmosphere. He was looser. It was a more relaxed atmosphere. Maybe some of the guys took advantage of that. I'm sure a lot of us regret that." In Sherrill's last season, Pitt finished 11-1. In Fazio's first season, Pitt dropped to 9-3 despite reaching No. 1 after a 7-0 start. As for Ditka, he wasn't afraid to tell Covert what was expected. "I get there as a rookie, my first practice at mini-camp, and he tells me, 'Kid, you're our left tackle. It's your position. Now go out and play it. ... He personally challenged you, and it was up to you to respond. He challenged the whole team." -- Mike Kovak on the North Shore
• Per university policy, Pitt Athletics will not release team-specific information on positive coronavirus cases. For now, the university will update the number of positive cases for the entire campus community every Friday. But that could change if the fall sports season progresses as scheduled. A source told me should the NCAA or ACC decide its members schools need to be more transparent with positive test results for student-athletes (we're talking about on a per-team basis not individual names), the university will have to alter its approach. -- Kovak
