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One-on-one with Bob Nutting at Pirates home opener

One-on-one with Bob Nutting at Pirates home opener
I think Bob opening day is always an exciting time, but I'm sure it's even more exciting when your team is winning three in *** row. *** sweep in Boston coming into today's game. It was *** fantastic start for the season this year. And really, I think it's *** testament to all the hard work that was done by the players, by the coaching staff, by the support team throughout the off season. I spent *** lot of time down in Bradenton this spring and it felt different. I mean, you have still *** young group of players, but *** competitive group who's taking themselves seriously the message they're hearing is different this year. That's not about just development and learning, but it's time to have real impact here at PNC Park at the Major League level. And so we may not sweep every team that we play. But boy, it was fun to see, see what this team can do against *** good team in *** really tough environment up at Fenway. It was exciting to watch. Is it validation? It's *** small sample size but validation of the way you've approached this development, bringing these young players working through the system and then spending where you feel is appropriate in terms of free agency. I think that's the model we've been following from the beginning. I think we saw *** real validation of that in 13, 14 and 15, we lost our way *** little bit as we all know. But I think what Ben and Derek Shelton have done refocusing on those core elements of infusing talent in every level of the organization, building *** stronger broad organization and then letting that develop up into the major. And now what we've been able to do this year is supplement around those pieces with some fun and exciting veteran talent that will help them develop and help them understand what it means to play serious winning baseball in Pittsburgh, this improvement does continue on the field. Do you see an increase in payroll maybe towards the end of this year going into next season? I think what we're going to do is we're going to stick with our program, which has been get the talent in, get the people in. You need to do that everywhere. We're never going to be able to compete with the Mets or the Dodgers just on payroll. We have to be smart about how we are allocating it. And so what we've shown is whether it's extending players, whether it's supplementing when we can and when we need to, but fundamentally relying on those young players who are coming up through the system. You know, that's *** model that's worked for other clubs. It's *** model that's worked for us in the past and it's *** model we're going to stick with you. Talk about extending players, obviously, Brian Reynolds, that was *** point of emphasis trying to extend him past the opening day deadline hasn't happened as far as we know. Where does that stand right now? Brian is *** really important part of the team and I've reached out to him *** number of times really respect him as *** person and as *** player would love to see him as *** part of the team. And everyone's worked really hard to see if we can come to common ground on that. Do you think it's going to happen some time during the course of the season? I shouldn't speculate on individual. I mean, it's still active discussion and there's no question that we want to have. Brian. I don't think there's any question Brian wants to be *** Pittsburgh pirate and we just need to make sure we find *** way to put those pieces together. One final question you were active personally in bringing Andrew mccutchen back active and bringing AJ Burnett this opening game. Has your role changed? Are you *** little more active now as an owner than maybe you've been in the past, in the day to day operations? Well, I think those are both really unusual circumstances. Fundamentally, my role is not going to change. And I have real respect for the process and the program that Ben has and he has professionals who know *** lot more than I do and I'm going to continue to trust them. But Andrew is *** special, special person for all of Pittsburgh, for the Pittsburgh pirates. Again, I remember watching *** workout when he was *** high school kid before we drafted him. And so I got *** chance to watch him as *** pirate. And through our system develop into *** player and *** man and *** leader and *** role model for these young players that he's become now also sort of *** remarkable father and husband. And so to be able to welcome him back and Maria back into the Pirates family is just special and so could not be more excited. All right. Well, Bob, good luck to you today and the rest of this 2023 season, happy opening day, Andrew. Thank you. Thank you. Take care.
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One-on-one with Bob Nutting at Pirates home opener
Pittsburgh Pirates owner Bob Nutting talks about efforts to develop the roster moving into the 2023 season, whether the payroll will be increased if the team shows improvement, and the status of contract talks with Bryan Reynolds.Watch the full interview in the video player above.

Pittsburgh Pirates owner Bob Nutting talks about efforts to develop the roster moving into the 2023 season, whether the payroll will be increased if the team shows improvement, and the status of contract talks with Bryan Reynolds.

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Watch the full interview in the video player above.