PITTSBURGH (AP) — The baseball season is a week old. Some fans in Pittsburgh, however, have already seen enough.
A plane carrying a banner urging Pirates owner Bob Nutting to sell the team flew over PNC Park on Friday ahead of Pittsburgh's home opener against the New York Yankees. The banner also included a link to a website urging fans to find ways to protest Nutting's stewardship.
The Pirates have just four winning seasons and three playoff berths since Nutting took over as owner in January 2007. The club has finished last or next to last in the NL Central each of the last year years, and the organization did little in free agency to boost an offense that ranked the worst in the majors last season.
Coming off 28 losing seasons in 32 years, the Pittsburgh entered Friday 2-5 after dropping a pair of road series in Miami and Tampa Bay. Manager Derek Shelton was booed during pregame introductions.
"I really respect and appreciate the passion of our fans," Nutting said. "I understand their anger and I understand their concern and I understand that they want the team to win. I do too, that's the most important thing we're focused on."
Pittsburgh is in the sixth season of a top-to-bottom overhaul that began with the hiring of Shelton and general manager Ben Cherington in the fall of 2019. People throughout the organization have said repeatedly in the run-up to the 2025 season that it's time to win, from Nutting to Cherington to National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes.
Nutting said he wants to help the club tune out the outside noise.
"Throughout my career, I have led organizations and I have filtered out and focused on the most important tasks," he said. "And that's exactly what we need to do here in Pittsburgh, we need to focus on winning."
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