MLB: No concerns with Pirates, Marlins revenue-sharing compliance

It appears Major League Baseball isn't concerned about the compliance of the Miami Marlins and Pittsburgh Pirates with regards to their respective revenue-sharing money.

On Thursday morning, sources told Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports that the MLBPA was exploring whether the Marlins were compliant with revenue-sharing rules, while also looking into whether the Pirates were properly reinvesting the money they received into their baseball operations department.

In the collective bargaining agreement, every team pays a percentage of its local revenue into revenue sharing, which is then divided among teams. With large-market teams being disqualified from receiving this cash, however, the intended purpose is to supply small-market clubs with additional money to improve their on-field performance.

MLB released a statement Thursday night addressing the matter.

"We do not have concerns about the Pirates' and Marlins' compliance with the Basic Agreement provisions regarding the use of revenue-sharing proceeds," reads the statement, as shared by MLB.com's Adam Berry. "The Pirates have steadily increased their payroll over the years while at the same time decreasing their revenue sharing.

"The Marlins' ownership purchased a team that incurred substantial financial losses the prior two seasons, and even with revenue sharing and significant expense reduction, the team is projected to lose money in 2018. The union has not informed us that it intends to file a grievance against either team."

MLB's statement came hours after Pirates president Frank Coonelly released a statement of his own that claimed his organization was not being investigated and that commissioner Rob Manfred had no concerns with the manner in which the Pirates were investing their revenue-sharing dollars.

"The Pirates have and will continue to invest its revenue-sharing receipts in an effort to put a winning team on the field, Coonelly said. "As required by the Basic Agreement, we share with MLB and the union each year the detail as to how our revenue-sharing receipts are used to put a winning team on the field. What that detail shows is that while our revenue-sharing receipts have decreased for seven consecutive seasons, our Major League payroll more than doubled over that same period."

Between them, the Marlins and Pirates have traded away Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna, Christian Yelich, Dee Gordon, Andrew McCutchen, and Gerrit Cole this offseason in efforts to reduce their respective payrolls.