During a brainstorming session with Pirates executives, a plan was formed to make the Pirates more competitive. They are trying to get Major League Baseball to handicap each team, similar to golf, to make baseball more fair for all. Bob Nutting was quoted as saying, “As bad as we are we should get spotted 25 or 30 wins at the beginning of each season. I just don’t think that it’s fair that some of the other owners aren’t afraid to spend money just so they can win. Also the small market teams that are winning just have a lot smarter people in their front office. Why should I have to suffer for that?”

Asked if he thinks that the Pirates would have a winning record if this new plan goes in to effect, he responded with “Are you kidding me, have you ever watched us play? It’s gonna take a lot more than this for us to start winning games, I guess miracles do happen though! It may get these fans off of my back for a while though! It’s a shame, back in the good ole days, ownership was able to tell them anything and they would fall for it! Now, they actually want a solid plan and want me to spend money. I’ll tell you, it’s crazy! I can see that they’re crying on all of the radio talk shows, but all I hear is blah, blah, blah, blah!”