It's Bob Nutting's Turn

Even after last night's great win, the Pirates still need to make changes.  Most notably with manager John Russell.  He has to go.  Period.

Zach Duke has publicly criticized Russell and there have been rumblings that several players have also said they won't go out of the their way to please Russell.

Fact is, he doesn't have the respect of the players, if he ever had it.

Another fact is that John Russell has nothing to worry about.  His job is not at all in jeopardy.  Why, you ask?  Two words- Bob Nutting.

If he would fire Mr. Mumbles, the penny pinching Nutting would have to pay him and a new manager.  No way that would happen.  Nutting refuses to add to payroll until the ballpark packs and the team gets better.  He has no intention of doing so, because those are two things he knows will never happen.

I'm on record still of saying I have no problem with tearing the team apart and starting over.  I also have no problem with having the lowest payroll in the league this season.  This team wasn't going to win anyways.  I have a huge problem with Nutting keep stating that he will add payroll when the team gets good and when the fans show up.  Quit treating Pirates fans like fools Mr. Nutting.  They can only take so much of your BS.  If you want to continue to  ruin this once proud franchise, could you at least do it without being seen or heard.

So, where are we with this team.  Nutting is and always will be the owner.  He has three yes men that work for him in Frank Coonely, Neil Huntington and John Russell.  They, just like Nutting are going to be here for a while.  Enjoy.

I always enjoy when people email me some of their opinions and here is some from Bill Gorby- a very longtime and knowledgeable Pirates fan.  Feel free to email me your thoughts as well.  My email is somewhere on this page,

Bill's thoughts on Bob Nutting:

Bob Nutting has stated that he'll increase payroll only when the Pirates become competitive. He has made no public statement to the media or Pirate fans that he'll increase payroll under any other circumstances. In fact, it remains a wide-open issue as to what criteria he'll use to determine if he will ever spend more than the minimum to field a team.
Given the nature of such an "interpretable" promise we can expect nothing from this man. Here's why.
1. It is entirely up to him to decide when and if he's going to increase payroll --- which leaves Pirate "success" completely in question.
2. If he doesn't spend the money to make the Pirate team competitive in the first place, then he doesn't ever need to increase payroll because (duh) they WILL NEVER BE COMPETITIVE.
3.. This "double-speak" means he never has to break his promise to increase payroll, and at the same time he can continue to suck on the teats of other teams salary cap and revenue sharing money and put those proceeds in his pocket.
Lord knows what he does with the money. He "says" he puts it into scouting and the minor league system, but nobody really knows because his books are sealed. Moreover, it is certainly in his best interest to use the MLB "community money" to pay down the debts that he inherited while at the same time increasing the resale value of the the franchise.
And who really knows, some money could be going into Seven Springs. We really have no checks and balances to view.
The man has MLB and the media completely fooled while at the same time he snickers in his office chair about the idiots who don't understand his true intentions.
P.S. MLB really needs to investigate this man's true intentions and force him to get out of the ownership group. That will never happen because of the incompetent leadership of one Bud Selig and MLB execs.


Bill's thoughts on John Russell's job:

To answer your post about firing JR I don't believe that will ever happen.
He won't be fired until after this pathetic embarrassing season is over. Why would el-cheapo Nuthing fire him and have to replace him while the season is still going on? That means he would still have to pay him and a new manager. He'll wait til September or October when he won't have to pay him anymore and then (possibly) fire him.
As far as Opie, he probably won't go at all. After all, he and Coondog head the best management team in all of professional sports---remember? Those words came right out of Nuthings mouth.

I will include more of Bill's or anyone else's thought in another post.