Bob Nutting’s dubious distinction: His Pirates are on course for setting an ominous record for the worst record in Pittsburgh Pirates' history— and one of the worst in MLB history. An expected finish for baseball's worst owner

Image: Tube City Online

… fired their president, GM, and manager after last year, but not their owner

How cheap is Bob Nutting?

Well, since I am now living in Minnesota, I saw one difference between the Pirates and the Twins in their recent series — and it was not the won-loss percentage.\

At least the Twins spent the money to put some fans in the seats, albeit ones that were faces of people, not the people itself. At least it gave the sense that the Twins cared about their players, giving them the idea that they will spend some money to make them winners. 

When the Twins played in Pittsburgh, PNC Park was devoid of any sense of people in the seats. In fact, the Pirates are devoid of anything resembling a Major League Baseball team.

Problem: Lowest payroll in the league

As Forbes magazine noted about new manager Derek Shelton when the Pirates’ record was just 2-9 and not 3-13 [.188]as it is now,

It would not serve Shelton well to ridicule his team publicly 11 games into his career. He certainly does not possess much gravitas.

And Shelton had to see this come. It would be tough for even an accomplished manager to win with a team that has the lowest payroll among the 30 major league clubs.

Thus, Shelton’s only choice is to put on a happy face, even though the baseball man deep inside must be wondering what he has gotten himself into by taking the job with the Pirates, who lost 93 games a year ago then fired their president, general manager and manager.

John Perrotto, “Short season already becoming interminable 

for Pittsburgh Pirates,” Forbes, August 5, 2020

You almost feel bad for the GM and manager. Almost. They knew what they were facing when they were hired by the cheapest owner in MLB. 

“Working hard”

At least this youthful team has some positives. They fight back, do not quit, work hard. Those are often the words of losers, and yet I feel sorry for Ben Cherington, who seems like a good guy, as does Shelton,

“I don’t like to see the record either — none of us do,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said. “None of us like the feeling after a loss. That’s why we work hard to make it better, because we don’t like that feeling. But we’ve learned a lot and will continue to learn a lot.”

Kevin Gorman, “With MLB’s worst record, Pirates off to historically bad start 

in shortened season,” Tribune-Review, August 10, 2020

What has been the worst Pirates’ team?

Obviously, with a 60-game season that will likely be fewer than that for the Bucs since they are not playing right now because of the Covid-infested St. Louis Cardinals, fans and the media have been scurrying to the record book to see the worst teams in history as determined by their won-loss percentage. 

The Pirates started their legacy in 1891 and a year later were winning 80 games. Overall, they have a won-loss percentage of .508, which is very respectable. 

Forget that they have not won a World Series since 1979. If they can compete, that is all that fans care about today. 

This .188 percentage is the worst ever for the Pirates, although their precursor, the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, compiled a .169 percentage, winning just 23 of 136 games. 

Still, Nutting’s team is destined to break a 129-year record if they continue at this pace. 

On pace for 30 wins in a normal season

Who would have thought that the Bucs could have fallen this far? And there is little time to recover with a 60-game season. 

Kevin Gorman explains the reality of the woeful record,

What we have learned most is this start ranks among the worst of all-time … 

But the Pirates are on pace for 30.4 wins over a full season. That would put them in the company of the worst teams in baseball history. That includes their precursors, the 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys (23-113, .169), who finished 66½ games out of first place …

Stranger yet, only four teams in the modern era have finished with fewer than 40 wins: the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (36-117), 1935 Boston Braves (38-115), 1904 Washington Senators (38-113) and 1919 Philadelphia Athletics (36-104). None of those teams played a 162-game season.

Kevin Gorman, Tribune-Review, August 10, 2020

Gorman has produced a chart that shows how terrible the Pirates were in 1952 with a 42-112 [.273] record. That was despite having a home run king in Ralph Kiner. 

What’s worse, after 16 games, the Pirates are in lockstep with some of the worst starts ever. The 1932 Boston Red Sox were 3-13 on their way to a 7-35 start and finished with a 43-111 record. The 1995 Florida (now Miami) Marlins were 3-13 on their way to a 5-20 start but finished with a 67-76 record. Then there’s the 1952 Pirates, who were 3-13 on their way to a 5-28 start and finished with a 42-112 record.

The ’52 Pirates featured Hall of Famers in general manager Branch Rickey and outfielder Ralph Kiner, who hit 37 home runs and had 87 RBIs.

That Rickey traded Kiner a year later, on the way to a 104-loss season, should serve as a warning for Pirates All-Star first baseman Josh Bell, who hit 37 homers and had 116 RBIs last season but is slashing .213/.246/.328 with two homers and five RBIs so far this season.

Kevin Gorman, Tribune-Review, August 10, 2020

The sad part of this is that Bell had a batting average below .200 entering the Twins four-game series. 

Even their stars cannot win in this regime. 

Look at what happened to Garrett Cole. The Pirates thought that he was finished and he became a World Series winner and now with the second-best contract in MLB.

The Nutting crew are the gang that can’t shoot straight. 

Nutting will have to blame someone if this continues

The truth is that is this continues, Shelton could be a one-and-done manager. Now, even the fans have been worn down so much that they do not care to fight Nutting. 

He will never sell the team. Even with this woeful season, he will not lose major bucks. The semi-revenue sharing gives him that much. 

However, the truth is that perhaps he will be embarrassed by producing the worst team in Pirates’ history. 

Don’t count on it.