Rob Manfred finally admits problem with Pittsburgh Pirates after being pressed

The Pittsburgh Pirates undoubtedly have some issues in the front office that are setting this team back and ultimately have them 19 games back of .500 at the All-Star break. Rob Manfred, the commissioner of Major League Baseball acknowledged the issue that resides in Pittsburgh in an interview with Pat McAfee.

McAfee talked about growing up in Pittsburgh and not exactly being a Pirates fan due to their lack of success. He believes that MLB would be so much better if every (or most teams) were competitive, and he pressed Manfred a bit when it came to the harsh reality of Pirates fans' "sell the team!" chants this year.

Rob Manfred admits that the Pirates have an issue in Pittsburgh and says they need to deal with it

While McAfee continued to vent about how tough baseball is with the markets, Manfred chimed in that McAfee is exactly right with his thoughts.

"Pittsburgh is a great sports town," Manfred states. "There are tons and tons of really passionate Pirates fans who remember when the Pirates were a great, great team year in and year out. They just want to look at the system and say we got a fair chance to win when you're sitting around in February looking at spring training and what the year is gonna be like."

Manfred followed with the biggest quote of them all by saying, "We need to deal with that issue."

The commissioner of baseball is acknowledging and addressing one of the most difficult realities in the sport. So what could that possibly mean in terms of a solution? Salary cap and floor? Manfred has already came out and said he is in favor of that. Aside from that, it's tough to really speculate what he means by that. Maybe he forces Bob Nutting to spend more, and if he does not comply he could be pushed in the direction to sell? We truly don't know, but at least this is now out in the open.

A dream come true would be if Manfred truly does do something to change how Nutting operates the Pirates. And that influence could be very real with Paul Skenes being a member of the team. He's one of the faces of baseball and one of the most talked about players, especially among the younger generation.

Hopefully Manfred backs up his talk because watching a team with Skenes sit double-digit games back of a wild card spot at the All-Star break is extremely upsetting. More importantly, though, it's just downright wrong.