Ex-Pittsburgh Pirates Pitcher Joe Musgrove throwing a no-hitter for the San Diego Padres after the Pirates traded him is the fuel for this article. 

As a Pittsburgher born in this millennium, my life has been plagued by the disappointment that is the Pittsburgh Pirates. Only witnessing one playoff birth in 2013 where they were promptly disposed of is my claim to fame as a hometown sports guy. Throughout my early years, I saw that the Pirates were a lost cause and began my search for another team to follow. I found refuge in the Boston Red Sox for many years of my life and still do to this day. I have always been a hometown guy, and I have never rooted against the Pirates. In the most recent years, I have really given the Pirates all I have got as a fan, and not to my surprise; they have not reciprocated the effort. When I am talking about the Pirates in this context, I am talking about incompetent Pirates owner Robert Nutting.

Robert, or Bob, Nutting has been the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates since 2007. This man alone has been credited with the downfall of the Pirates in the last 14 years and for good reason. Nutting is known around Major League Baseball as a ‘money first’ owner with little to no care about how his team operates on the field. The great and dedicated fans like myself have all expressed their displeasure with his way of operation, even going as far as to make Change.org petitions to get him to sell the team to a more worthy candidate after he stripped the Pirates of the only core they ever had. The dislike of Nutting in the steel city peaked when he started by trading away Andrew McCutchen to the San Francisco Giants, as well as trading now one of the highest-paid pitchers of all time, Gerrit Cole, to the Houston Astros. 

Now, what is a failing owner who is consistently in the bottom third of the payroll in the entire MLB supposed to do when the city he resides in hates his guts and is calling for his removal? Step down and sell the Pirates to someone who actually cares about the success of the team, or cheap out on your lineup and put together one of the most laughable organizations in baseball history while pocketing the difference? I think everyone knows where good old Robbie stands in that debate. 

In most recent history, many wealthy and popular people who the citizens of Pittsburgh do not hate with every cell in their body have stepped forward to try to purchase the Pirates. Mt. Lebanon native and owner of the Dallas Mavericks organization Mark Cuban along with former Pittsburgh Penguins legend Mario Lemieux, and now part-owner of the team, are just some of the notable names that have been in the pot. To all of the bidders, Nutting remains firm in his stance that the team is not for sale. 

Bob Nutting’s inability to function as the head of a multi-million dollar organization has left me with no choice. I refuse to stand by and watch this man tear down this team any longer. Getting rid of any player who shows any promise to make a quick buck and to try to substitute him for a less talented player is the definition of cowardice in baseball. The Pittsburgh Pirates were on a downtrend when Nutting joined the team, but even after that, it plummeted to a new low. You see, all these players like Joe Musgrove and Gerrit Cole have great success across the league after they are done with the circus that is Pittsburgh professional sports, and I am sick of being a part of the stop on the way to the top. 

Personally, my sports career was cut short. Not because of an injury or anything; I was just bad at baseball. I had a brief stint on my high school team, and even then, I saw a lot of the bench. In addition to that, I have zero business skills and hate money. Despite that being fact, just with my sheer knowledge of the sport alone, I believe I could get the Pirates a winning season. My little to no real baseball experience still sets me far in front of Robert Nutting and whatever he is attempting to do with the team. Nutting has made it abundantly clear that instead of a businessman, we need a ballplayer to take the reins of this organization before Pittsburgh loses their team to inevitable relocation. Then again, with Nutting at the helm, relocation doesn’t sound that bad.