Pirates fans should see right through Bob Nutting’s sudden change of heart on spending

For years—decades, really—Pittsburgh Pirates fans have been begging, pleading, shouting into the void for ownership to invest in the team at even a league-average level. Not superstar splurges. Not Los Angeles Dodgers-style payrolls. Just basic investment to support a talented young core rather than forcing yet another cycle of “hope, trade and pray.”

But now? Suddenly? Bob Nutting is pretending to open the checkbook. And Pirates fans should see right through every bit of it.

The Pirates, long allergic to free-agent spending, are conveniently “in” on everyone at exactly the moment that the CBA is about to expire and the league is bracing for a showdown over revenue sharing and franchise responsibility.

Josh Naylor? Kyle Schwarber? Jorge Polanco, Ryan O’Hearn and Kazuma Okamoto? In any other offseason, we’d be told these names were “outside our comfort range,” “not in our model,” or that the Pirates were focusing on “internal growth.” But now, suddenly, Nutting is Mr. Big Market.

Make no mistake––this isn’t a philosophical shift. This is pure politics.

Major League Baseball does not want teams using revenue sharing as a personal slush fund. And the MLBPA has already made it clear: plenty of low-spending clubs treat the system like a safety net, not an investment tool. The Athletics got hammered for this, and lo and behold—they spent last offseason just enough to look respectable before bolting for Sacramento.

The Pirates are doing the same dance. They're doing just enough to say, “See? We spend! We care!”
Just enough to avoid being Exhibit A in the next CBA fight.

Pirates' Bob Nutting has one priority in Pittsburgh, and it's not winning

Fans know the truth. This isn't about winning. If this were real, sustainable investment, we wouldn’t be seeing decade-long refusal to hand out multi-year free-agent deals. We wouldn't be seeing bare-minimum arbitration spending or relievers being non-tendered over pennies. We wouldn't be seeing a roster built around the hope that Paul Skenes and Oneil Cruz magically carry everyone else (while still doing no actual spending during the Skenes window before he becomes expensive).

Instead, we’d see payroll support during the years the young core needed it most. We’d see long-term commitments made responsibly, not reluctantly. We’d see a philosophy built on winning—not optics. The fact that Nutting only pretends to spend when he needs leverage tells you everything you need to know.

When rumors leak that the Pirates are “interested” in Kyle Schwarber, it’s because the Pirates want fans and the league to believe they’re entering a new era. But do we actually think Nutting—the same owner who freaks out when payroll grazes $100 million—is suddenly green-lighting massive deals in a contract year for the CBA? Please.

This is classic Nutting: Use the appearance of spending as a shield, not a strategy.

Pirates fans have every right to be skeptical. Remember what spending genuinely looks like: treating payroll as a tool, not a burden. Meanwhile, the Pirates pretend to be in the conversation with stars they will never actually sign, all while pushing the real message behind the scenes: “Look at us! We’re spending! Don’t punish us in the next CBA!”

Fans know better. Fans have always known better.

Nutting has and always will care more about revenue sharing checks, operating margins, asset appreciation and protecting his image in league politics than he ever has about attendance, legacy, championships or the joy of baseball in Pittsburgh. If decades of behavior have taught us anything, it’s that Nutting spends when spending benefits him, not when it benefits the fans.

The Pirates aren’t suddenly becoming big spenders. They’re not “finally listening.” They’re not “pushing chips in.”

This is a CBA-driven illusion, a PR gloss meant to shield ownership from scrutiny. And fans who have endured endless excuses, teardown after teardown, and a revolving door of promises that never materialize are right to reject it.

Until Nutting proves otherwise with actual commitments—not rumor-leaks, not carefully timed arbitration deals, not one-year fliers—fans should treat this “new spending era” as exactly what it is: a performance.

This performance is as well-timed as it is transparent. It's a reminder that until ownership truly changes, “hope” will always be budgeted, “ambition” will always be capped, and the Pirates’ success—and their fans’ happiness—will never be anything more than line items on Nutting’s balance sheet.