Watch CBS News

Bob Nutting: 'We Have To Understand What Happened In September'

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- It wasn't that long ago the Pirates were a shining light in the Pittsburgh summer sun.

"It felt fantastic," Pirates owner Bob Nutting said. "I think everybody knew we were never going to lose another baseball game. The enthusiasm of the crowd, of the players, of the Zoltan – that's the passion and excitement that we've been building toward and I think it reminded all of us why we're in the game and what Pittsburgh Pirate baseball is supposed to feel like."

But it certainly isn't what Pittsburgh Pirates baseball feels like tonight and Nutting says the best record in 20 years isn't good enough.

"We are enthusiastic – tremendous amount that went well – but we have to fix the pieces because the pieces that went wrong just broke our hearts, broke the hearts of our fans, the players spent this morning with many of them and we're simply not going down this path again."

Bob Nutting got a good taste of what could be this year and he wants to get that back and make it grow.

"We have to understand what happened in September," he said. "We have to understand what happened with this slide because we simply cannot allow ourselves to do it again."

Is he committed to the same management team for 2013?

"I think we're reviewing all sorts of alternatives. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the team, the management team, a tremendous amount of respect for the progress that we've made," Nutting said.

"Are we, are they looking at adjustments and how do we do better and where we can improve? Absolutely. We need to do that as an organization."

Bob Nutting made it clear he doesn't discuss people's jobs or livelihoods in public

"The answer is no one's getting fired today, that's not what we do as an organization," he said. "My job is to have the backs of the people who need to lead us forward and if at some point as we've done in the past we decide we need to make a change or make an improvement we'll do that at the appropriate time."

RELATED LINKS
More Sports News
Pittsburgh Pirates

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.