During a distribution event with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank at PNC Park Monday, Pirates president Travis Williams spoke one-on-one with DK Pittsburgh Sports about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their season, his first year with the organization and the future of the club's farm system.
Below is a summary of that conversation:
THE BUSINESS OF BASEBALL
Without fans in the stands, the 2020 season was difficult financially for major-league clubs, including the Pirates.
It does look like a lot of those losses will stay in 2020, though.
“Like all other business and industries, the pandemic had an impact on baseball and on the Pirates,” Williams was telling me. “That shouldn’t surprise anyone. But at the end of the day, I think we’ve done a terrific job as a league and as a team to mitigate that as much as possible, and minimize the impact it has on us in the long term.”
Williams did not go into specifics when asked if the Pirates lost money this year, like many of teams have, but said the impact was “significant.” The Pirates have said it is too early in the offseason to know if that impact will necessitate cutting the major-league payroll.
They weren’t the only club to feel the pinch. Teams league-wide have made cuts to try to make up for lost revenue. The Pirates did have some turnover in their business and baseball operations departments, mainly in June, though most of those moves were expected as Williams and Ben Cherington made those departments their own after initially keeping most of the people from the previous regime. Many of those effected were given the option to stay on through October. The club also froze a 401(k) matching program that month.
Those cuts were not as deep as other teams and Williams said the impact will mostly be felt in the short term.
However, with the rising number of cases nationally and Allegheny County in November, it does create uncertainty for the future.
“I think the reality is we’re still in the middle of this pandemic,” Williams said. “While we feel strongly that everyone will come together and put together a season for 2021, we don’t know what that means in terms of fans. Obviously it had a major impact on fans in 2020. We don’t know what that will look like in 2021.”
The Pirates are currently selling season tickets for 2021, with Williams saying they are hopeful they can still add fans and will “do everything we can to get them here.” Last year they offered a full refund for those who had season, group or individual game tickets or the option to have that be a credit for 2021 tickets with bonus credit included.
Per Forbes, about 30% of a team’s revenue comes from gate receipts and spending in the ballpark.
Not operating with that income again in 2021 will have serious consequences across the league.
If there is a case of optimism for fans going forward, it’s that fans have been able to return to games in recent months, including the World Series in Arlington, Texas in October.
The Pennsylvania state government changed their mass gathering guidelines in October, allowing the Steelers to play in front of a limited capacity crowd. While that does not guarantee that the same guidelines will be in place several months from now, its success so far does offer hope that fans will be able to return to PNC Park for their home opener against the Cubs on Apr. 8.
“I think it’s a great indicator that if done appropriately, like the Steelers have done, it show that a sports social environment, wearing masks, being socially distant and following other guidelines, that you can pull it off,” Williams said. “We are certainly very hopeful that holds true through the beginning of our season. That we’re able to host fans in the same manner, and progress to more and more crowds as things continue to improve in terms of the pandemic.”
THE FIRST YEAR
Friday, Nov. 27, marks the one year anniversary of the Pirates hiring Derek Shelton as manager and the official start of the Williams-Cherington-Shelton era for the organization.
No one saw that first year playing out the way it did, not just because of the pandemic, but the results on the field, finishing with the worst record in the abbreviated season.
“It has been an interesting year, to say the least,” Williams said. “But at the same time, it was not a lost year, by any means.”
Williams gave three points when talking about how the organization is better off now than it was a year ago, the first being what Shelton and his staff did to change the culture in the clubhouse.
Despite the poor results, players commented throughout the year how much better the team’s culture was. That was first seen during spring training in Bradenton, Fla., where a new coaching staff with new ideas revitalized what had become a mostly lethargic group towards the end of the previous season. Even with the losses, Shelton complimented his team's work ethic through the completion of the season.
“All of the players that I spoke to during the season, after the season, really embraced the changes that were made there,” Williams said. “We’re really thankful of that different approach Derek and his team took.”
There was similar improvement in the front office, which also started to implement more player-centric approaches from higher up.
“Ben and his team did a terrific job this year being able to put that in place.”
The third was a combination of the two: Introducing some young players to the majors. The most obvious example is Ke'Bryan Hayes, who won the National League rookie of the month award in September. Some other notable rookies to make their debut included pitchers Blake Cederlind, JT Brubaker, Nick Mears and Cody Ponce, while the satellite camp in Altoona, Pa. welcomed top hitting prospects Nick Gonzales, Oneil Cruz and Liover Peguero.
“There was some real opportunity for those young stars to be able to come up and start playing, get some experience as we build towards that future championship-caliber team.”
ON THE FARM
This has been a transformative year for the minor leagues, with Major League Baseball cutting over 40 clubs. Even for those teams that were not cut, there has been some significant shake up, with some teams changing classes or affiliations.
It doesn’t look like the Pirates will have any turnover in the upper levels of their farm system. While nothing will be official until MLB establishes a new model for the minors, Williams said he “fully anticipates” Indianapolis, Altoona, Bradenton and Greensboro will remain affiliates. That covers the club’s Class AAA, AA, high-A and regular A levels, respectively.
There have been changes in the lower levels of the system, though. With the Appalachian League becoming a collegiate summer bat league, the Pirates have already parted ways with one of its affiliates, the rookie-level Bristol Pirates. MLB is also trying to convert the New York-Penn league, a short-season Class A league that is home to the West Virginia Black Bears, into a wooden bat collegiate league. That change has not been finalized, but with the amateur draft pushed back from June to July, that will undoubtedly change how a team like the Black Bears operates, since they were the usual first stop for drafted college players.
The Black Bears declined to comment to DK Pittsburgh Sports last month when asked about the subject. Williams did the same, saying that is a league matter at the moment.
