The last two days has shown a fair amount of financial information for several major league teams leaked to the press.  Who did it is hard to tell, but it is interesting how the different teams have handled it.  David Samson, President of the Marlins, came out with guns a blasting saying that the leak will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.  Meanwhile, the President of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Robert Nutting came out ahead of the leak, releasing some of his own information and sharing some background.

For example, payouts to the ownership group occurred only once during the 2007, 2008 time frame covered in the documents.  That was to return money that was privately loaned to the Nutting family, instead of granting them more equity in the club.  The other bit of money was paid out to offset taxes that minority partners would have had to pay on the profit of the team.

And yes, the team made a profit. The team has consistently made a profit.  Has it made a profit like that of the New York Yankees?  Nope.  Would it have been able to buy players that a big market team signed in the past couple of years with that profit?  Well, it might have been able to sign one of those guys.  But think back to when Alex Rodriguez signed with the Texas Rangers.  Did the Rangers make the playoffs that year?  Did they Rangers win more games that year?  No.

So, just because the Pirates might have been able to pay a fancy free agent to play in Pittsburgh, it doesn’t mean that the Pirates would be a better team than they are now.

Nutting claims in this Rob Biertempfl piece, that the Pirates have worked hard to get the team back in good financial shape.  They are 3/4 through a plan to rebuild the organization.  The paperwork released does show that they have been spending money on their player development system, especially in the Dominican Republic.  Last week, I saw the State College Spikes (short season A Pirate affiliate) and they had players from Australia and South Africa on the team.  The Pirates are looking for talent everywhere.  But, with the release of these statements- and this holds true for the Marlins as well- the Pirates can now truly be held accountable for following through on their plan.  They cannot hide behind secrecy.  They have to tell their fans what is happening, and they have to show that they are still following that plan- the one where the payroll begins to rise.

This has to be the low water mark for the team.  The glass has to begin filling.  This is not the beginning of the end, however, it should be the end of the beginning.