Mark Madden: MLB owners have no interest in a salary cap, so the Pirates will stink in perpetuity

The Pittsburgh Pirates aren’t the worst team in MLB. Not by a long shot.

Colorado is 7-33 and on pace to go 28-134. But the Rockies just changed their manager. That should fix everything, like Don Kelly in Pittsburgh.

The Chicago White Sox (12-29) are also worse than the Pirates (14-27).

MLB doesn’t mind when teams are historically bad. The Harlem Globetrotters need the Washington Generals. The Rockies, White Sox and Pirates are needed by the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers, the franchises that matter.

Even the rotten teams don’t mind their status as bottom feeders. You don’t need to win to make mad profit in MLB. Low payroll helps maximize black ink.

That’s why bad teams don’t campaign for a salary cap.

A cap would be accompanied by a floor. A floor would make a team like the Pirates spend more than they do or want to. Owner Bob Nutting isn’t interested in that.

Right now, the Pirates don’t have to spend more. They’re doing nothing against MLB’s rules.

There’s a report claiming the Pirates lost money last season. Nutting purchased the Pirates for $96 million. The franchise is now worth $1.32 billion. Nutting is doing OK.

MLB’s collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2026 season. There’s media-driven talk of a work stoppage aimed at forcing through a cap. But MLB’s owners have neither the unity nor fanaticism required.

So how can the problem be solved?

It can’t. The Pirates will stink in perpetuity. They will never be a serious contender.

The Pirates aren’t currently baseball’s worst team. But no MLB franchise has less commitment to winning, as evidenced by the Pirates wasting the Paul Skenes phenomenon.

That’s assuming Kelly doesn’t fix everything. Win two out of three, like they did over the weekend, and the citizens are bleating about “Donnieball!” Kelly got ejected Saturday, so you know he cares. There’s no business like show business.

The Pirates lost that game on a wild pitch and because Henry Davis forgot to slide. Same as it ever was.

The latest cockamamie false hope being peddled by the marks is, “FORCE NUTTING TO SELL THE TEAM!”

Great idea. How do you do that?

PNC Park’s lease expires in 2030. The Sports & Exhibition Authority could place certain requirements on the lease’s renewal, like the Pirates keeping payroll at a reasonably competitive level. Say, no lower than the figure that placed 20th among MLB teams the prior season.

But then Nutting would threaten to move the team. He wouldn’t sell it. The SEA would immediately back down. The Pirates bring too much revenue into the area. The SEA is concerned with that, not winning. The Pirates keep the North Shore alive.

So how do things change?

They don’t.

Even if attendance dipped cataclysmically — even more than it is currently — that won’t make Nutting spend more to be competitive. He’d just cut costs even more.

Anyway, you won’t stop going. You want your day/night at America’s best ballpark. (That Nutting didn’t pay for.) You want to take your kids there. (Somebody call child welfare.)

Nutting knows that.

You whine and complain but keep showing up. You invent false optimism. Nutting calls your bluff every time.

Opening Day rolls around, and you drool. It’s Pavlovian.

If you can’t fix it, you’ve got to stand it.