Nutting takes case to players

[Cali Ed]

From today's P-G

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Bob Nutting has been in business his entire adult life, but he might never have had a sales job more challenging than the one he undertook yesterday.

His goal: Convince the Pirates' players, many of whom he knew to be skeptical, that the ownership group he now runs is fully committed to winning.

"I wanted them to hear it," he would say later. "And I wanted them to hear it directly from me."

To that end, Nutting opened his first visit to Pirate City as the primary owner by gathering the 66 players in camp, plus coaches and other personnel, into a cafeteria for a half-hour session in which he spoke for about 20 minutes.

By several accounts, he talked about the Nutting family's various business ventures and history of success, about how he never has found failure acceptable in any walk of life and, undoubtedly most compelling for this audience, about how all of the Pirates' available money is being spent on player payroll.

The Pirates are projected to have an opening day payroll roughly the same as the $43.4 million they spent last season, a figure that ranked 28th among Major League Baseball's 30 teams. Ownership has budgeted for roughly $50 million, but general manager Dave Littlefield has yet to spend to that limit.

Spring Training: Nutting takes case to players

For me, this is much ado about nothing. It's spin, no more. 28th of 30 speaks louder than "I'm committed to winning... blah, blah, blah!" Until the Pirates show substantial financial investment in the product, it will continue to be lies, damned lies and statistics!