BRADENTON, Fla. -- There was a lot of ground to cover and 15 minutes to do it.
It has been an eventful year for the Pittsburgh Baseball Club, considering where they are in the rebuild and the new collective bargaining agreement. It's also been an eventful couple of months, factoring in Bryan Reynolds' contract situation and trade request, and even an eventful couple of weeks and days when it comes to the developments with AT&T SportsNet and Discovery Warner Bros., who broadcast Pirates games.
Bob Nutting spoke with DK Pittsburgh Sports for a open one-on-one interview ahead of the team's first spring training game at LECOM Park Saturday. Below are Nutting's full answers organized by subject, with breaks provided to give more context.
ON CABLE TV
On Friday, a report in the Sports Business Journal said that Warner Bros. Discovery has told teams that it is leaving the regional sports network (RSN) business entirely, a decision that will impact 10 teams, including the Pirates and the Penguins.
Previously, Warner Bros. Discovery had made a timely payment for less than the full amount, to which the Pirates responded that payment is not late until opening day.
The league has viewed this crunch from RSNs as a serious possibility for about a year now, and the Pirates have been looking into contingency plans even before that. Opening day will be broadcast on televisions in Pittsburgh.
"It does not impact the viewers at home," Nutting said. "We are completely committed to making sure the broadcasts are on as scheduled and as planned and without disruption. We, as the Pirates, will do everything we need to do to make sure that happens. So no impact. Period. Full stop.
“Long-term, the impact on the viewers should be better because we need to have a system that games are available on any platform, on any device, where you want, where you need. We have blackouts, we have limitations. We have, ‘You can watch the game, if you have…’ Long-term, I think this is the beginning of a good and important turn for the broadcast system overall."
As for how it impacts the Pirates? That looks more profound. According to the same Sports Business Journal report, the Pirates make about $60 million in local broadcast rights. FanGraphs' 2020 estimate had the Pirates making about $44 million from television rights.
"Short-term, it’s going to be very painful. It’s going to be really painful for the Pirates, it’s going to be very painful for the Penguins. It’s going to really painful for baseball overall. It’s not just the three or four AT&T RSNs. Diamond’s [Sports Group] going through the exact same thing with another 15 [teams]. I think the transition is somewhat unclear.
"It’s going to be rocky, it’s going to be challenging, and there is going to be a lot of change. But nothing’s different than it was two weeks ago. This is a project we’ve been working on for 18 months. It’s a problem the commissioner’s office has been working on and is fully aware of for well over a year. Significant short-term risk, some probably long-term upside in terms of fan availability of games.”
During Grapefruit League media day in Dunedin, Fla. last week, Rob Manfred said the commissioner's office will step in for distribution of game broadcasts if the issue persists and teams experience difficulties because of the missed payments. It's not clear how that will look yet, though Manfred expressed ending local blackouts as a positive if this paradigm shift happens.
“I don’t think any of that is fully sorted out at this point," Nutting said. "Rob’s really aware of the issue. He’s been working really hard on the issue. I’m not sure anybody understands it more clearly and better from a global, macro perspective than Rob does. We spent a lot of time on it in Pittsburgh because we have a unique situation with the Penguins.”
ON REYNOLDS
There is still a divide between the club and their best player, Reynolds, both in terms of working out a long-term extension and Reynolds not rescinding his trade request.
Nutting and Reynolds had multiple conversations on the field at Pirate City this week, which Reynolds described as "casual, friendly."
"We want to make sure he knows how much we appreciate him," Nutting said. "We don’t want hard feelings to come out of what has been a very usual, very awkward and very strange process that has gotten us to this point. I think everyone is in the same mindset that we need to move beyond looking backwards. We need to start looking forward. Whether that means real contract discussions take place now, mid-spring training, a little later in the year. There’s not enormous time pressure or urgency on it. What is really urgent is that Bryan understands we want to have him as a Pirate. We respect him as a person and a player. Everybody, I think, wants to try to see if we can’t put something together.”
DK Pittsburgh Sports has previously reported that the Pirates' offer to Reynolds was six years, $80 million, while Reynolds' counter was eight years, $134 million. There is still a preference from both parties for this saga to eventually end in Reynolds getting a new contract.
When asked if he anticipated becoming more involved in negotiations or handing it still to Ben Cherington, Nutting opted for the latter.
“It’s definitely why I hired Ben, and I think it’s always disruptive to inject personalities into any process," Nutting said. "At the same time, I think Ben and I are completely aligned. He would say, I think, what I did. He really respects Bryan as a player. Really likes him as a person. Likes Blair, likes the family. They are good people who are good fits as a Pirate. He would say exactly the same thing. I have never and wouldn’t plan to inject in a ‘number of years’ or ‘number of dollars’ level of the contract.”
ON THE CBA
It has been nearly a full year since Nutting and the other 29 principle owners of major-league teams all voted in favor of the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) to start the 2022 season after a 99-day lockout instituted by the owners.
The new CBA did bring with it some minor changes to try to impact the economics of the game, such as another tier of luxury tax penalties, but many of the more radical ideas that could have changed the sport and helped the Pirates -- such as a salary floor -- did not gain much traction and were not included in the deal.
“A year ago right now, we weren’t sure if we would be playing baseball in the 2022 season," Nutting said when asked why he voted in favor of the current CBA. "Right now, a year ago, we weren’t allowed to contact our players. We weren’t allowed to go through our workout programs. We weren’t allowed to get them in. We weren’t allowed to go through prep. We didn’t know if we would be playing baseball. Since the choice was not, ‘Can you cherry pick a perfect agreement that works for the Pirates?’ it was a simple choice of ‘Are we going to play, or are we going to continue to lock out?’ In that choice, I feel I made the responsible, and only responsible, choice of ‘We’ve got to get baseball going. We’ve got to move forward.’ Frankly, I’m glad I did.
"Was the agreement good for Pittsburgh? No. It wasn’t. Do I know that? Of course I know that. But that wasn’t the question for the vote. The question really was, ‘Are we going to continue [the lockout], or are we going to start playing baseball,’ and I voted to play baseball.”
During an interview with DK Pittsburgh Sports at the hiring of team president Travis Williams in Oct. 2019, Nutting said he felt he had to become "a more effective advocate for small markets." Reflecting on that ramp up to the CBA, Nutting felt he followed through on that.
“I absolutely worked hard and absolutely had an impact," Nutting said. "At the same, [I] didn’t get enough done and have begun working already for the next cycle because it’s critically important. I think everybody understands that. All of the owners, the fans, union, understand the current economics of baseball fundamentally don’t work. We’ve never had more disparity between clubs in revenues, payroll and competitive balance, and that’s not good for the game and it’s terrible for the Pittsburgh Pirates. We’ll never use that as an excuse. We will always work within the system that we have, and we’re going to fight like hell to make sure this team can perform, and you’ve seen that. I think you’re going to see that this year. But no, we need to work hard on economic reform. Rob understands that, we understand that, and I’m very optimistic we’re going to make progress.”
ON BRINGING BACK CUTCH
Back in 2018, the last person to sign off on trading Andrew McCutchen to the Giants was Nutting.
“That was a brutally, agonizing, challenging decision," Nutting said. "Neal [Huntington] at the time strongly believed it was the right thing to do for baseball to improve the team. I think he was right, but emotionally, as a fan, as a person, that was hard. It was. I’ve made a lot of decisions, and that's an easy one to go back and second-guess."
Bringing him back this offseason? Well, that was a lot easier, and McCutchen was quick to point out in his introductory press conference last month that him reaching out to Nutting helped facilitate the deal.
"Being able to bring a player that means that much to the team, to the city, but frankly to me personally, just was incredibly satisfying and thrilling to see him come back in. I said earlier down here in Bradenton, I was out on Field 4 at Pirate City when Andrew was down for his very first workout at spring training four months before the draft. Watched him for a long time, from a kid from Fort Meade who has developed into one of the great players in the game, and frankly, with Maria, has developed into one of the great people in the game.
"Father, family man, Pittsburgher, baseball player. Any team would be fortunate to have him, but personally, to see him come back is incredibly satisfying.”
ON THE REBUILD
During the press conference to announce Ke'Bryan Hayes' contract extension last April, one of Nutting's first points was to give a vote of confidence for Cherington and the direction of the franchise.
When asked again on if he had the same confidence in Cherington and Derek Shelton ahead of their fourth season at the helm, Nutting responded, "I would say even higher."
"This past week, they had a chance to talk to players, coaches, engage with the multi-disciplinary pitching staff," Nutting said. "The squad or team they put together to address hitting. Had a little bit of a chance to appreciate the incredible amount of work preparation that went into this offseason, and how enormously better this offseason was than last year when we had all the limitations of the strike period. We’re just light years ahead of where we’ve been. I think we’re just beginning to see the real impact in terms of culture, in terms of preparation, in terms of process. All those things that Ben and his team really impact.
"I’m incredibly impressed with what I’ve seen this week. Incredibly enthusiastic to see what they have on the field. And frankly, if you think of the young core and the depth, competition coming up from AAA, a much stronger young core on the field and then be able to supplement on top with senior players like Andrew. We’re going to be a different team in 2023 than we’ve seen the last couple years.”
When asked if there has been any discussions of those two's role with the Pirates after 2023, Nutting declined to give specifics and said, "I love those guys." Shelton is on the final year of his initial contract.
"That is not on my radar screen, mainly because I have so much appreciation and respect for what both those guys are doing everyday,” Nutting said.
One thing is clear, though. Another 100-loss season is not an option. A step forward needs to be made in 2023.
“It’s critically important to show progress this year. Shelty said it to the players the very first day. I said that to the players in that meeting the very same day. And we’ve both said it to each other. We all know it and believe it. Expectations have to shift, and we have in place that we need to see real, tangible forward progress on the field at PNC Park this summer.”
