Editor’s note: The following story was submitted for the Shaler Area Student Section, a collaboration between TribLive and The Oracle, the student newspaper of Shaler Area High School.
With spring training in full swing, it’s a great time to think warmer weather and baseball.
Pirates play-by-play announcer Greg Brown stopped by Shaler Area High School to talk with The Oracle about a variety of baseball and Pittsburgh topics. Here are some highlights of the conversation.
Q: What has kept you passionate about the Pittsburgh Pirates after so many years?
A: It’s my profession, and I love the sport. I really love the team. I’ve heard over the years some critics have said things about my style. One of the criticisms over the years has been that I’m too over the top. I’m too much of a homer. Bob Nutting is our team owner, and I’ve been criticized for “carrying his water.” I’m the shill for the Pirates. I’ve never understood that. I’ve actually gotten into debates on X with people about it. With one guy and I said, “At least you’re civil. I noticed you must have some buddies either that are on this platform, or who share your discontent with me, or the owner, or both, or the team.” I offered to have him get as many of his buddies as he wanted to, and he did. He ended up getting like 20 of them. I went to a local restaurant on the North Side one night and they all came in. I reserved a little area and I said, I’m buying for the next three hours. Well, we debated there. We talked. I answered bluntly. So it just has never made sense to me. I’m, of course, going to be a promoter of the Pirates. The owner pays me a good buck. So I’m very loyal to him and the team in the organization. If you’re doing my job, you can’t help but root for the Pirates.
Q: As a broadcaster is it hard to ignore the negativity from the Pirate fan base?
A: It’s frustrating. I have told many of my colleagues in the business, talk show hosts, sports talk guys and writers that I get it. But it’s the easiest thing in the world to go on the air in Pittsburgh, and say, ‘‘Bob Nutting is cheap, the Pirates stink, and they need to sell the team.” Then you’re going to get phone calls. It’s just easy for them, but the frustrating part is that no one seems to be willing to put in some work and actually investigate what that means. And no one will ask this. No one ever says that when I hear the calls on the talk shows or read it in paper or read online. Bloggers and podcasters do the same thing. I’ve talked to Bob Pompeani, too. I had this discussion with him a couple of years ago at an event. I asked him how much more do you want the Pirates to spend. He said he didn’t know. You just can’t say you don’t know. If he was spending $100 million, how much more should he spend? Give me a number. Is it $1 million, $10 million, $100 million more? Give me a number that would satisfy you, but no one will ever give me a number. My point is that he could spend $140 million, which is $40 million more than he spent last year. Then at the end of the year, the Pirates finish in third place and out of a playoff spot. You know what? The fans will be screaming, “Bob Nutting didn’t spend enough money.” So the only way to quiet people is to win. If your team isn’t doing well, you have to blame someone. Every sport needs a villain, and I think that’s the bottom line. Bob Nutting is an easy pick to be the villain.
Q: Would you like to see a salary cap implemented in the MLB?
A: They’ve tried over the years to do something like that with more revenue sharing. And they’ve put in this payroll tax. If you spend a certain amount, you get taxed and that goes into the pot. And teams like the Dodgers just don’t care because they make so much money. It’s just crazy how much they take in. So ideally, if they could rein it in somehow, it wouldn’t fix baseball necessarily, but it would certainly improve the sport I think and give everybody an equal opportunity. It doesn’t fix teams automatically. It would help, and I don’t know where it’s headed. It seems like the owners always cave. It would be nice not to have to constantly answer that question every year with baseball, but baseball, in its defense, has the best union maybe in the world. That union started right here in Pittsburgh. Marvin Miller was with U.S. Steel Co. and they brought him from U.S. Steel and made him the first head of the players association. He grew it into the greatest union in the history of the world. So it’s going to be awfully hard to break what the union has said forever, which is we’re not going to have a salary cap.
Q: When you look at the payroll gap between the Pirates and the large market teams, how much of that do you think is a lack of activity in the front office, or the Pirates not being able to compete with some of the offers from the bigger market teams?
A: I think a lot of it is that the Pirates can’t compete with that. The one thing that might be different this time around, is that for years, the big-market owners that are kind of happy with the way things are, because they can pretty much spend freely, but now you’re seeing, because of what the Dodgers have done in particular, other big market teams are getting upset that they can’t match the Dodgers. I even heard some Yankee fans were upset. They thought the Yankees were being cheap. The Mets owner, Steve Cohen, is the only owner in sports who spends his own money. Everybody else doesn’t. He’s a multibillionaire, but even he has decided there’s a limit on this. So even (the Mets are) being outspent by the Dodgers. But the gap is unlike it’s ever been in baseball history. That’s the other defense of the Pirates not spending. Is it worth them spending $190 million when that’s still $250 million less than the team that is going to win the World Series? What good does it do for them to win three more games by spending $20 million? Now, this year, I think (Bob Nutting) sees that we are really close with Paul Skenes and the pitching staff. If we add a little bit, then we can compete. But I think teams like the Pirates are just saying it’s silly to try and play that game. They can’t play in that adult pool.
Q: What do you think Paul Skenes has meant to the organization so far?
A: His story is not written yet. He’s just beginning to write it with the Pirates and with baseball and its history. Paul Skenes is just now writing his book. He came up as a rookie sensation in May of 2024, became the Rookie of the Year, finished third in Cy Young voting, had a 1.96 ERA and struck out everybody. Then last year ends up being the Cy Young winner and tops what he did the year before. Everybody who sees him — the fans, media, management, other players — all talk about how they’ve not seen anything like it before. He could be the difference in the turnaround because of his arrival. It seems that (the Pirates are) trying to build around him. I think he just wants to win. This offseason, they’ve done work. Ben Cherington has done a heck of a job in support of Paul and the rest of the team. But knowing that you have this horse at the top of your rotation, one of the best, if not the very best pitcher in all of baseball, it almost forces your hand to go all in. Let’s get this done. He’s here. Let’s have him lead the way. Because in baseball, you win by pitching. If you get in a short series, even with all the heavy hitters, the high-revenue, high-spending teams, you have a chance. Once you get to the postseason, you get into that short tournament series, and I don’t think any other team would want to face the Pirates staff.
Q: What grade would you give the Pirates this offseason?
A: Probably a B. They’re calling it the Winter of Ben, somebody told me. In baseball, you really need a complete team. I think the additions of Ryan O’Hearn and Brandon Lowe, two left-handed bats with pop, will be crucial. Jake Mangum, a switch-hitting, speedy outfielder who can hit for average. Those guys are going to make (Bryan) Reynolds and (Oneil) Cruz so much better. The offense just has to score four runs. It really doesn’t take much run support. Ben’s (Cherington) has been really good, and I admire him because he’s been criticized a lot.