When ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan speaks, baseball fans listen. Passan is the rare insider who goes beyond breaking news to cover the big stories across the sport day to day. And over the past year, there’s one story Passan can’t let go.
That story is the Pittsburgh Pirates, who employ young pitching phenom Paul Skenes and a glut of arm talent but are spending just $88 million on the major league roster this season — fifth lowest in baseball. In nearly every major media appearance Passan has made since Skenes’ breakout last season, Passan has taken the opportunity to skewer the Pirates.
Perhaps Passan has a more profound history with the Pittsburgh organization than we can track, but since the team became relevant again, the first big viral moment Passan vs. Pitt came last September. With first baseman Rowdy Tellez on track for a $200,000 bonus based on a benchmark for total plate appearances, the Pirates sent him down to the minor leagues. While on The Pat McAfee Show, Passan highlighted just how big a problem he believes the franchise is for the sport.
“The important point here is not to focus on how the Pirates screwed Rowdy Tellez out of $200,000,” Passan said, “It’s to look at the Pirates and to look at (owner) Bob Nutting and ask, ‘why is Rowdy Tellez your first baseman in the first place? Why aren’t you going out and getting better players?'”
“How do you continue to exist as a Major League Baseball owner who theoretically wants to win a championship and do so pinching pennies? This is what happens … this is the consequence of ownership that does not treat things seriously.”
Since that day, Passan has teed off on Pittsburgh constantly.
It may not feel like it to Pirates fans, but Passan’s gripes appear to come from a good place. Passan said on the Talkin’ Baseball podcast during the season last year that he thought Pittsburgh was the second most dangerous team in the NL Central behind Milwaukee because of its pitching talent.
If you look at the teams behind Pittsburgh regarding payroll, all of the teams are known problems for the league. The Chicago White Sox in 2024 were one of the worst teams in history and could be purchased by new owners soon. The Tampa Bay Rays have tried to relocate and evolved their approach to winning long ago with a small salary sheet. The Athletics are in a Triple-A stadium in Sacramento this year amid a prolonged move to Las Vegas. And Miami is a perennial tire fire that has not been all that relevant since winning the World Series in 2003.
Passan likely sees the Pirates as worth saving rather than a lost cause. He also likely smells blood in the water regarding owner Bob Nutting.
In the past month alone, the Pirates have had to offer two mea culpa to fans. First, the team sold an advertisement atop a tribute to Roberto Clemente behind the backs of his family. This week, Nutting himself apologized after a local newspaper revealed the team had disposed of hundreds of commemorative “Bucco Bricks” near the statue of Honus Wagner outside PNC Park.
Passan has also made the Pirates a symbol of MLB’s spending problem, countering the panic surrounding the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Passan explained how the team figures into MLB’s impending labor battle over a salary cap on the Pardon My Take podcast last month. Any fan who wants to cap the Dodgers’ spending has to also acknowledge the competitive imbalance that comes when a team like Pittsburgh refuses to spend enough to compete.
“Floor comes with a cap. A cap comes with a floor, the two shall never be separated,” Passan said before later adding “I should be the person who’s yelling about this … when you have a team like the Pirates, I look at them and I’m like, ‘Try just once. Just once, please go out and try to field a winning team.’”
Whether it’s the federal government’s efforts to rewrite the history of MLB legend Jackie Robinson or the stubbornness of an organization, Passan isn’t afraid to pick a fight. The Pirates are his latest target.
With all the scrutiny on the team since Skenes’s arrival and the broader conversations within baseball, Passan is likely on the side of most baseball fans. He may be unable to pressure Nutting to spend money or sell the team, but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong.