It's possible the Pirates are pocketing the money AND finally building up their team the right way. There's nothing wrong with that. Ideally, they should be building a war chest for when guys like McCutcheon and Alvarez and anyone else who becomes a solid player is ready for their arb years and beyond. Yes, sometimes I am THAT naive.

Asked if the Pirates’ ownership, led by chairman Bob Nutting, was making money in that range, Selig raised his voice in replying, “Absolutely not. Unequivocally not."

"It's more, I tell you! More!"

DB

The Pirates will never be competitive until they can build a new stadium which will transform Pittsburgh into a large market. They should follow the Yankees lead where a new stadium propelled them from missing the playoffs to the best record in the regular season. The Pirates will return to post season glory when they too can charge $2500 for the best seats in the house.

I am reasonably sure that the Pirates only exist to make Orioles fans feel good about themselves.

I am reasonably sure that the Pirates only exist to make Orioles fans feel good about themselves.

And vice versa.

I'm with Shooty. Let's say they do make an average of about $6 million annually over the last few years. They could take some of that profit, and plow it back into the team, but what would they spend it on? Well:

1) Their facilities. The ballpark sounds, from all accounts, gorgeous. I can't speak to their spring training facilities, minor-league complexes, etc., but I haven't heard that this is a major problem (say, unlike Baltimore's spring training complex, which is such a pit that they're finally leaving for 2010).
2) Retaining existing major-league players. They determined, correctly, that they have very few players on their 2009 roster worth keeping, much less signing long-term. Could they try to sign guys like Duke and Ohlendorf to long-term deals cheap, and buy out some arbitration and free agent years? I suppose, but this isn't Youkilis, Pedroia, Lester we're talking about here; there's a fair amount of risk in investing your money this way with any of the few young guys with meaningful upside they possess.
3) Free agents. For now, they will probably have to overpay to get mid-to-high level FAs, and a quick look at who is likely on the market this winter suggests this is not the best use of finite dollars. Actually, it's a pretty crappy list of FAs, and most of the ones with lots of value are going to cost way too much for the Pirates.
4) Minor-league talent. They seem to be drafting and developing some talent, though their use of a high pick for Tony Sanchez, who was bottom-of-the-frst-round talent, for signability issues doesn't inspire confidence. They're spending about $10m a year on draft picks right now. If they made $15m, instead, could they not draft more aggressively at the top fo the rounds? This team needs stars and depth, not either/or. The only way they are getting there is by plowing some of that profit into signing more and better draft picks...

The only way the actual yearly P&L;will ever be disclosed is if MLB declares financial disaster during a collective bargaining process. At that point they are required under the CBA to be transparent. So look for a lot of hand wringing and bleating about profits with nothing that would make them open up.

Forbes' numbers are mere estimates - granted as former player Denny Hocking said during the attempt to contract the Twins “should I believe a magazine that spends 365 days a year researching finances or a guy who has zero credibility?”

#6 is so true and so depressing. What bad teams need is a terrific gm ,backed by great major and minor league scouts. This gm has to make outstanding trades - over the hill vets for young talent and sign the best kids to play for the team. Meanwhile he can't waste any money on bad draft picks or poor vet for minor leaguer trades.

Keep doing the right thing for a few years and hope for the best. All 30 of the ML teams are looking for this gm and these scouts, by the way, and if they find them, some teams have more resources to grab them and lock them up for a few years.

Oakland with Billy Beane and the A's success a few years ago was an example of how this works. Beane was on his way to work magic with the Red Sox when he backed out of the deal. As it turned out, the A's success faded and Boston found their own genius. So it goes...

Asked if the Pirates’ ownership, led by chairman Bob Nutting, was making money in that range, Selig raised his voice in replying, “Absolutely not. Unequivocally not. I’m telling you, they’re not pocketing it. I mean, it’s just an economic myth.”

Well if you can't believe Bolshevik Bud on the subject of appropriate allocations of the free money he claimed was absolutely integral to the continued existence of major league baseball, who could you believe?

Open the books Bud.