Transcript: Chairman Bob Nutting

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Pirates chairman and principal owner Bob Nutting addressed the media this morning after speaking to the team prior to their workout.

Here is the transcript.

On message to the team:

It was fun to be able to be with the full team again this year. The message was how much we appreciate what they have done and how enthusiastic I am, the entire organization is, about this season coming up. Two great years in ’13 and ’14, but the expectations for ’15 are higher as we plan to charge forward and set a high goal of the next step forward.

On what those expectations are:

I think the expectations are twofold. One, at the team level, every single day, we expect continuous improvement. Continued evaluation, get a little bit better every single day. At the end of the season, what that means, we plan to win the division and then see how far we can go to move on and win a championship for Pittsburgh again.

On the duties of the executive council and being named to it:

That was a real honor. I think it shows the increasing respect for the organization throughout baseball. It was a great honor to serve on the selection committee, succession committee for commissioner Selig and picking Rob Manfred as the 10th commissioner. He was in Pittsburgh with us on Monday again. I believe he will be tremendous for the game.

Personally to be able to serve on the executive council, and to help steer this next chapter of the game is extremely exciting. I love the game, I love the opportunity. We’re at a wonderful place and at the same time we have areas in terms of international development, youth engagement, that we can grow the game and make it even more exciting and relevant in the next decade.

On MLB commissioner Rob Manfred being friendly to small-market teams and his comments on limiting defensive shifts:

Commissioner Manfred, just as commissioner Selig, will be respectful of the entire game. He represents 30 clubs, not the New York Yankees, not the Pittsburgh Pirates, and it’s his role to find the right balance to grow the game overall. Part of that game is competitive balance, access to talent, the things that are critically important to the Pittsburgh Pirates. At the same time he needs to find every opportunity to grow the game both domestically and internationally.

On possible changes to the All-Star game bidding process:

I’d love to see it come back [to Pittsburgh], but that process is still undefined. Certainly when we understand it we will participate as aggressively as possible.

On the perception of the Pirates in baseball:

Absolutely. I think that the level of appreciation for, respect for, has fundamentally changed. We’re getting closer to living up to the expectation of a historic franchise that I recognized when I first stepped in as control. It’s taken us a long time with incremental steps to get to where we are, and we’re not done, we’re just getting started. I think we have a bright, bright future, many improvements and upgrades left to come. Many great seasons ahead of us, starting with 2015. That commitment to the game that collectively we’ve shown has changed the attitude inside the organization. It’s changed the attitude throughout Major League Baseball. I’m proud of the recognition that we’re beginning to get for that.

On Yoan Moncada and the possibility of an international draft:

One of the most important things for the Pittsburgh Pirates will always be access to talent. And so whether that’s the amateur draft, whether it would be an international draft, which I think would be very good for the Pittsburgh Pirates, finding a way to level that playing field, not only when it comes to overall competitive balance but particularly when it comes to access to talent. We were very aggressive when we had an opportunity to be aggressive in the amateur draft. When that door closed, we found other opportunities to be very aggressive, bringing talent into the organization at every level. The international component will continue to be a huge part of that because there is so much talent spread through not only Central America, not only the Caribbean, not only the Dominican, but as we’re seeing, Korea, Japan and certainly Cuba is going to be a game changer.

On how access to talent compares to when he took over:

It’s different. What we need to do as an organization is to be realistic and to adapt. It’s never going to be a level playing field. We’re never going to have all of the same opportunities as every other team. We need to be smart, take advantage of the opportunities we have. I think the biggest strength of the organization may be our ability to adapt to the changing circumstance. It’s one of the things Neal Huntington has done so incredibly well throughout his tenure, to be able to focus on what’s important at the time and be able to execute at a very high level at each turn.

On an extension for Neil Walker:

Certainly Neil’s been an important part of this club and I have a tremendous respect and appreciation for everything that Neil has done and look forward to seeing him as a Pittsburgh Pirate this year and hopefully for many years to come.

On Jung Ho Kang and working more in the Pacific Rim:

I think what it really is, a signal of our commitment to and willingness to access talent wherever we can do that effectively and efficiently and have a major impact on the club. Certainly we look forward to seeing what his contributions are going to be. [We] have very high expectations. We will continue to look as broadly as we need to to bring the talent in that we need to build a championship organization.

On the benefits of increasing pace of play:

I think pace of play is going to be a very important initiative, driven by the commissioner’s office. We want to make sure that the game stays engaging and fun and relevant for everyone watching. Part of that will be improvements in broadcast itself to make sure we have more information, more engagement, throughout the broadcast. Part of it will be pace of game, but that will be a multi-faceted approach. Tony Petitti, who will be leading that at the commissioner’s office. He and I have had a number of discussions about the kinds of opportunities we have as a game but also as a TV presentation to really make improvements over the next several years and I think we have a great guy on that case.

On reducing dead time in TV broadcasts:

I think you have all of those pieces. Whether it’s additional information, statistics during the broadcast itself, seeing some of the sprays of where individual players and hitters have put balls, seeing how that lines up against our pitchers. There’s a lot of information that we have looked at internally that frankly can make a very, very interesting presentation as we roll it out to the fans.

I think if you look at what the NFL has done. Simple things like putting a first-down line on the field. Didn’t exist 20 years ago. The additional positioning and the opportunity you have. Our broadcasts still look much the same as they did 15 years ago and I think we have an opportunity really to push forward. I really am enthusiastic about our partners at Root Sports who are going to be leading some of those initiatives and I think they’re going to do a great job.

On Manfred as an open-minded commissioner:

I think that one of the great opportunities Rob has is to bring the perspective of someone with 22 years of history in the game. He understands where we are, he understands and respects the history, but really has made a commitment to take a fresh look at every opportunity he can. It’s difficult to be an agent of change from inside. I think that’s part of the role the executive council’s gonna play, to make sure that we’re challenging assumptions, to make sure we’re looking at fresh opportunities. I look forward to participating with him in that, but I think Rob’s exactly the right guy to be able to take a look behind and a look ahead and see what opportunities we have.

On whether or not the Pirates can add to their payroll at the trade deadline:

We’ve always had a certain amount of ability to maneuver. It’s important for us to be able to do that. At the same time, ultimately it’s never really about the total dollars but how intelligently and effectively we can allocate those dollars throughout the organization. I have a lot of confidence that the team we have in place is doing that well, is doing it effectively. Whether that’s early in the season, whether that’s the trading deadline, whether it’s later as we’ve seen in the past. Having that opportunity and flexibility to react, I think, has been a core to our success and something we’re going to stick with.