My Question

While the Pirates are still incredibly secretive, this Forbes article provokes a question that I have to ask.

Chuck Greenberg, who will not be the next Bucco CEO, said, "As a Pittsburgh guy and a Pirates fan, I would have loved being part of turning the franchise around and seeing the Pirates win championships again."

Forget my silly, at least slightly insane Pittsburgh provincialism in my initial favoritism for Greenberg--who's never failed at anything, to my knowledge, and who's demonstrated a capability as an owner for running winning teams that are also profitable at the minor league level--and look at the above quote.

Is "winning championships" the mandate that Mr. Nutting will give to his new CEO, Frank Coonelly? Or will the mandate be "profit first" and "at least get the team to .500 so they can stop being embarrassing?"

Is the mandate going to be to build a profitable franchise that consistently earns a profit by winning games and selling out the prettiest ball park in America? (And yes, Mr. Nutting, put a winner there, and fans will come.) Or is the mandate going to be "profit first, and we'll be happy if you would just put a less embarrassing product on the field?"

Vision starts at the top, and mandates start at the top. The new CEO will answer to Mr. Nutting. But the question remains: Does Nutting really want to have a winning team? Is he actually going to give his new CEO the resources and latitude to build a team that can legitimately contend for championships?

Because, as harsh and fatalistic as it is for Bucco fans sick of losing, a new CEO and new GM will not matter much until the dictate and mandate, backed up by reasonable resources from ownership, actually is to build a team that can contend for championships.*

(*And, in the NL Central, as presently constructed, it shouldn't be that difficult to contend for a pennant.)