Mark Madden: Bob Nutting’s Pirates are permanently broken

The Pittsburgh Pirates have lost 11 of 12 after being swept at PNC Park by the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox have MLB’s second-worst record this season, lost 121 games last season.

But the White Sox outscored the Pirates, 27-7.

Owner Bob Nutting doesn’t care.

The Pirates drew more than 85,000 for the three-game series. That’s how Nutting keeps score. Fans lined up around the block to get Mac Miller bobbleheads Saturday. (That’s an odd choice of somebody to promote heavily. Miller died of a drug overdose. If that’s a “hometown hero,” he was a tortured one.)

Those attending chanted “SELL THE TEAM!” But Nutting already had their money.

The hue and cry among the inexplicably faithful is to fire GM Ben Cherington. This after Cherington was feted for picking high school pitcher Seth Hernandez in the first round of the MLB Draft a week ago.

It’s the same sort of clamor that preceded the termination of manager Derek Shelton.

But that didn’t fix much.

The Pirates were 12-26 under Shelton this year, 306-440 during his tenure of five-plus years. Shelton’s winning percentage is .410.

Don Kelly is 27-35, a success rate of .435. That’s not much better

One so-called “expert” recently proclaimed Kelly to be in the running for NL Manager of the Year. Losing 11 of 12 put an end to such crazy talk.

Kelly’s employment by the Pirates will ultimately mark the only time he manages in MLB. Same as Shelton. Kelly is just Shelty Jr. The Pirates get their managers at Dollar General.

One local scribe noted the Pirates hired Cherington instead of Matt Arnold. As Milwaukee GM, Arnold has the Brewers tied for first place in the NL Central.

But if Arnold was GM, the Pirates would do no better.

In Milwaukee, Arnold has a payroll that’s $24 million more than the Pirates.

The Brewers kept their best player, Christian Yelich, and he continued to excel. The Pirates kept Bryan Reynolds. He’s hitting .229.

Even more important, the Brewers have an organizational commitment to winning. It’s a priority.

The Pirates have zero trace of that commitment. It’s not important.

As a franchise, the Pirates are permanently broken.

No GM or manager can fix that.

Just like Andrew McCutchen’s “veteran leadership” isn’t helping. The Pirates are lazy and undisciplined.

McCutchen is 38. He’s 9 for 48 in July with just one extra-base hit.

If McCutchen had any pride, he’d retire. He’s being used. He’s a nostalgia act, a mascot, a pierogi in uniform, a bobblehead come to life. McCutchen should be better than that.

The Pirates are barely a baseball team. They’re a marketing department. Fireworks and bobbleheads. A carnival that happens to feature baseball. A lesser version of the Savannah Bananas.

Firing Cherington might improve things. But not enough.

Just like firing Shelton improved things. But not enough.

Theo Epstein dipped in Billy Beane could take over as GM, and it wouldn’t fix the Pirates.

A salary cap in MLB wouldn’t fix the Pirates. Nutting would spend to the floor, no higher.

Even the local stooge media is down on the Pirates.

But don’t worry: Oneil Cruz will hit a long home run soon, and it’ll be “OH MY GOD, WHAT A TALENT! CRUZ IS A SUPERSTAR!”

After that, it will be back to daydreaming about Hernandez, Konnor Griffin and Bubba Chandler. (We’ve been waiting so long for Chandler, he feels like old news.)

Stooges are going to stooge.

Pirates are going to lose.

That rhymes, kind of. Lay down the beat. I’m ready to rap!