Part II is here: “When does morality matter as a fan?”
When Kevin McClatchy bought the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise in 1996, part of the $90M sales price he paid for the club included taking on $29M in debt which was owed to the City of Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority ($20M note @ 8% interest over 15 years given in 1985).
le long du chemin, McClatchy was able to convince the City to give him another $11.5M loan and, together with the initial loan he inherited in the purchase of the club, par 2004 the Pirates owed more than $61M to the City.
But they never paid a dime.
Au lieu de, they were handed another gift by the taxpayers City (Pittsburgh Auditorium Authority) in the naming rights of the stadium ($30M by PNC Bank for 20 année), which apparently was to help fund McClatchy’s required $40M payment for building PNC Park (remember Plan B?). To sweeten the pot even further, McClatchy has been handed another $1.5M per year or so since the entertainment tax on ticket sales was reduced from 10% à 5% but you continued to pay full price.
et, bien sûr, all of this happened after the taxpayers of the City soundly defeated proposed legislation authorizing taxpayer dollars to fund PNC Park, but still had to pay an additional 1% sales tax to fund the Regional Asset District.
Now today the Associated Press is reporting that the Allegheny Regional Asset District (RAD Board) is withholding 10% of its $80M 2009 budget to the city’s libraries, parks, and other cultural entities the taxpayers use because of the uncertainty in the economy and the potential for tax revenues to dip. Considering the RAD budget was down $4M from 2008, that’s a reduction of more than $12M in services the taxpayers are potentially having to eat.
Yet the equitable value of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization continues to climb thanks, in part, to the taxpayer’s gifts.
Ironically just the other day, Pirates President Frank Coonelly held a discussion on the economic downturn’s impact on professional baseball at Penn State and Guy Cipriano of The Centre Times reported Coonely said the Pirates rely on two distinct revenue sources:
“Season ticket sales and concessions account for 30 percent of the club’s revenues. An even bigger source of revenue — 45 percent according to Coonelly — come from areas such as Major League Baseball’s national television contract.”
I suppose he forgot about the City of Pittsburgh. Oh, and the taxpayers who may not find a favorite swimming hole or library open next year.
So who are the real plundering pirates, the hungry Somali’s off the African coast, or Pittsburgh Pirates ownership involved in all this?
–
How about a simple Q&A for Neal Huntington before the winter meetings? Here’s one we wish took place:
1. Is Jack Wilson your next Salomon Torres head case/salary dump?
2. Will Sanchez’s medicals even pass muster so we can deal him?
3. Who is your Jose Bautista and when will you deal for him?
4. Why do you even bother going to Las Vegas?
5. How can you possibly justify giving low-end 10th round money to Patel and Singh to sign? Tell us the order came from above so we can keep some faith in you.
–
I’m still hearing Wilson to the Tigers just as the Detroit Free Press is reporting. I just think this is closer than anyone thinks, although in the end it may not get done until July. Stay focused on this.
–
Le ‘Burgh Blues is reporting Adam LaRoche might be on the Angels shopping list if they can’t land Teixera.
Me? It doesn’t make sense.
–
Why not go vote for Nate-the-Great for Defensive Player of the Year [Modifier - readers told me I missed a couple - Nate's also in the "Play" area for his OF assist in the ASG and Doumit is under the "Oddity" area for plunking Grabow with his throw to second last year.]
–
Les pirates sont talking to Derrick Turnbow? Now that’s one I can believe since he has a partially torn rotator cuff. Yawn.
But you know, that could be a good thing. Put the guy on the mound with all the players in the league knowing he can’t find the plate with a 95+ mph fastball coming off an arm that could break on any pitch and watch them back out of the box if they don’t come to the plate with so much armour on they can’t hit him anyway.
LOL
Why in the world would we be interested in a broken down Turnbow with 900 tier-two relievers in our system ready for prime time?
Dejan goes on to say in his blog:
“I am reminded of something I had intended to share from the recent trip: The Pirates want power. For position players, that means hitting. With power. For pitchers, that means throwing hard. Anyone trying to make it more complicated than that is probably just muddying the picture.”
That’s just plain silly.
Of course the Pirates want power. Power, from a hitter or pitcher’s perspective is great IF – and I repeat – IF they can control the strike zone. And if they could, they wouldn’t be signing with the Pirates.. they would have contracts to play somewhere else. He goes on to say:
“Neal Huntington adds players at the major league level who, almost no matter their control history, can add power to the pitching staff.”
Huntington is adding players almost nobody else wants. Who are we kidding?
Perhaps Dejan meant to say that the Pirates are wanting to sign low-risk, high-reward type players who have fallen from their career paths but shown a track record for controlling the zone but still have power projectability?
It’s no secret every club wants power – that’s the name of this game and always has been. But harnessing that power is something the Pittsburgh Pirates haven’t been able to do in player development in decades. So it’s foolish to think we’re going to magically accomplish it anytime soon especially with our PD staff undergoing a massive overhaul.. à nouveau.
Quick – name one Pirates starter who controls the zone? Unnhhhh.. times up. We don’t have anyone. Capps and, perhaps Dumatrait when healthy, are the only two on the staff who do. Doumit, and to a lesser degree McLouth and Moss, control the zone as hitters with some power but we don’t have any other hitters who do.
If we did, we’d be winning a lot more than 65 jeux.
Then Dejan said:
“.. and scouting director Greg Smith goes for power through much of his first draft.”
And that’s when I clicked the “X” in the right hand corner of the screen. Sure he did.. riighht ;)
–
Homme, please don’t let Peavy sign with the Cubs.
