Big Changes needed now

[SteelBowl70]

Flip flop flop flop flop
Steelers 10-3 start and 0-5 finish
Pitt FB 7-0 and 0-6
Pitt BB 12-2 and 4-9 and getting worse
Penguins were never very good and their season culminated in today’s embarrassment
Even the Pitt VB and soccer teams finished on sour notes

Outside of Paul Skenes’ starts there really is not much to even look forward to.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

It's honestly not a good town to live in for sports these days.

Baseball - small market; poverty franchise; we all know of their disadvantages

College football - small fanbase (matters a lot more with NIL); the game is dying out in this region; college football was a tough sell to begin with in a town with pro franchises; in a waning conference

College basketball - about the same as football, except this was more like a never-was region for high school basketball

Penguins - I mean I don't follow, but it seems like they got everything they could out of their stars and they're just pointlessly living out the denouement stages of their careers; probably an ugly rebuild ahead

Steelers - stuck in limbo; who knows how long it'll be until they find a quarterback

That ACC championship might be the highlight of a very lean 2020s decade.

 

[SteelBowl70]

Vukovcan: Time for Big Changes at Pitt

These last five months for Pitt fans has been absolutely horrendous. While there certainly have been specifics games that can be brought up, I’d challenge Pitt fans to name a year in which both the football and basketball teams have disappointed as much as this season. It starred with football...

pittsburghsportsnow.com

 

[LeftCoastPanther]

The professional teams are currently all stuck with content owners. The University isn't too worried as long as ACC checks are cashing, and athletes aren't getting into trouble.

 

[NCanton Panther]

It's honestly not a good town to live in for sports these days.

Baseball - small market; poverty franchise; we all know of their disadvantages

College football - small fanbase (matters a lot more with NIL); the game is dying out in this region; college football was a tough sell to begin with in a town with pro franchises; in a waning conference

College basketball - about the same as football, except this was more like a never-was region for high school basketball

Penguins - I mean I don't follow, but it seems like they got everything they could out of their stars and they're just pointlessly living out the denouement stages of their careers; probably an ugly rebuild ahead

Steelers - stuck in limbo; who knows how long it'll be until they find a quarterback

That ACC championship might be the highlight of a very lean 2020s decade.

What’s funny/sad is that at this point in tine, the Pirates may be the most promising and at the same time the most disappointing of the lot.

We all know that Nutting doesn’t/won’t open the purse strings but if there ever was a time to do it even a little it would have been now while you have Skenes heading up an overall pretty promising starting pitching lineup. It definitely screamed for adding some offense to compliment that pitching but they didn’t do it.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

What’s funny/sad is that at this point in tine, the Pirates may be the most promising and at the same time the most disappointing of the lot.

We all know that Nutting doesn’t/won’t open the purse strings but if there ever was a time to do it even a little it would have been now while you have Skenes heading up an overall pretty promising starting pitching lineup. It definitely screamed for adding some offense to compliment that pitching but they didn’t do it.

People get offended when I say it, but I honestly want to see the Pirates leave town and then hopefully get a new franchise within five years after that. What other option is there? When the Pirates made their 2013-2015 mini run, there weren't as many super teams as there have been lately. They literally have zero chance under Nutting when Spencer Horwitz is the big add to complement the Skenes/Jones/Keller/Chandler era.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

People get offended when I say it, but I honestly want to see the Pirates leave town and then hopefully get a new franchise within five years after that. What other option is there? When the Pirates made their 2013-2015 mini run, there weren't as many super teams as there have been lately. They literally have zero chance under Nutting when Spencer Horwitz is the big add to complement the Skenes/Jones/Keller/Chandler era.

What the Pirates need is one of these Euro soccer owners who don't care about turning a profit. They'll lose money if it means winning. Nutting and McClatchy aren't rich rich. Inotherwords, yes, they are rich, but not rich enough to be willing to lose tons of money to win.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

we have paul skenes, thats is. that's literally all we have. i'd say we have Sid but yeah, he's at the end of his tunnel on a bad team so that's not even enjoyable.


So we got every 5th day from April to October, that's our sporting life here in the burgh..

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

we have paul skenes, thats is. that's literally all we have. i'd say we have Sid but yeah, he's at the end of his tunnel on a bad team so that's not even enjoyable.


So we got every 5th day from April to October, that's our sporting life here in the burgh..

How many wins is an elite ace like Skenes worth, keeping in mind that sometimes you'll win no matter who is on the mound and sometimes you'll lose 1-0 or 2-1 and waste a start?

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

How many wins is an elite ace like Skenes worth, keeping in mind that sometimes you'll win no matter who is on the mound and sometimes you'll lose 1-0 or 2-1 and waste a start?

8.8 WAR if you prorate him over a full season last year. That's pretty impressive.

For reference, Garrit Cole's 162 game average WAR over his full career has been 4.6, which is about half of that.

Granted, I don't think Skenes will maintain quite the level he was at in 2024. But it's safe to say that he'll probably either be the best in the game or awful close to it over these next few seasons.

... So let's go sign Tommy Pham to make sure we really capitalize on it. And then we can take pictures of Haley's Comet on a grainy flip phone while wearing our grass-cutting shoes to complement the $5,000 suit someone let us borrow for the event.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Nutting and McClatchy aren't rich rich. Inotherwords, yes, they are rich, but not rich enough to be willing to lose tons of money to win.

Bob Nutting is a billionaire (yeah, with a "b"), and is around the 10th richest owner in major league baseball. He is rich enough to afford an average major league payroll every year. In fact with an average major league payroll he still wouldn't lose any money. He just wouldn't make tens of millions of dollars per year.

 

[CrazyPaco]

People get offended when I say it, but I honestly want to see the Pirates leave town and then hopefully get a new franchise within five years after that. What other option is there? When the Pirates made their 2013-2015 mini run, there weren't as many super teams as there have been lately. They literally have zero chance under Nutting when Spencer Horwitz is the big add to complement the Skenes/Jones/Keller/Chandler era.

The problem is, Pittsburgh would never, ever get another MLB team if the Pirates leave. They'd get a AAA team maybe.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

The problem is, Pittsburgh would never, ever get another MLB team if the Pirates leave. They'd get a AAA team maybe.

Probably not, given population trends. But a PNC Park that's still in good shape might give us a chance. Either way, it's a chance I'm willing to take. We mostly cycle through AAA players anyway, so I could also adapt to a minor league team.

 

[CrazyPaco]

Probably not, given population trends. But a PNC Park that's still in good shape might give us a chance. Either way, it's a chance I'm willing to take. We mostly cycle through AAA players anyway, so I could also adapt to a minor league team.

The smallest stadium in MLB. No it wouldn't. Zero chance they'd ever get another team. Too small of market. People wanting to watch The Show would be driving to Cleveland or Baltimore.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

The smallest stadium in MLB. No it wouldn't. Zero chance they'd ever get another team. Too small of market. People wanting to watch The Show would be driving to Cleveland or Baltimore.

There are 6 or 7 smaller (not that capacity is more important than attendance). If Mark Cuban (random example) wanted to buy the Pirates, why would the MLB say no? They brought in $310M (not sure how much before revenue sharing) in revenue last year; it's not like this is the Big Ten and they have to increase the per team payout.

I completely understand that there are much more bustling cities and booming populations, but those things don't always "take." There's something to be said about being a sports town (which this is when the Pirates don't absolutely suck). The Rays, for instance, didn't sell out the World Series.