U mad, bro?: Fans go off about T.J. Watt's contract, Paul Skenes' lack of run support, Bob Nutting's ineptitude

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ season is essentially over because Steelers training camp has started. But that doesn’t mean Pirates fans can’t fire a few parting shots on their way off to irrelevance.

Even after sweeping the Tigers.

Also, some readers are already in training camp mode, getting their Steelers dander up for the next six months. T.J. Watt’s $123 million contract extension clearly provided the foundation for that this week.

Thankfully, we have “U mad, bro” every Thursday so you can get it out of your system.

John thinks that I was being unfair to T.J. Watt when I suggested that he better be part of a playoff winner now that he has been given a $123 million contract.  

Be fair Tim. It's a team sport. If he doesn't have players around him who can get it done, especially the QB, even the best pass rusher in the game won't win games by himself.

— John Schmidt (@TheWordSchmidt) July 18, 2025

I am being fair. Watt’s average annual value ($41 million per year) is almost equal to Patrick Mahomes’ ($45 million per year), and it’s more than half that of the starting quarterbacks in the NFL.

Granted, playoff wins are usually just a quarterback stat, even though it is a team game. But Watt is getting paid like a quarterback.

That’s fair.

I can’t rationalize the hypocrisy of: “Pay T.J. because he is so impactful!” But then some people couch that with “T.J. has nothing to do with their eight-year playoff drought!”

How does that work, exactly?

I get the impression that Nicholas would rather blame Mike Tomlin for those results than Watt.

When you fall behind 3 scores every playoff game and the game plan is "cut your eyelids off" I don't think your best edge rusher is the playof problem

— SteelerFan802 (@VT802_Nicholas) July 18, 2025

Well, maybe if their best edge rusher was better in those playoff/late-season games, they wouldn’t have fallen behind by three scores to begin with.

This guy seized on a line I had in Wednesday’s “First Call” about Watt’s interview with Graham Besinger.

"If it was pre-taped, that suggests that negotiations may have been in a better spot for a longer period of time than some were assuming".

Only those who were looking to create phony drama and content ever believed otherwise, or at least pretended to. Was always a done deal.

— You Know It's Tru Tho (@know_tru) July 23, 2025

Right. ‘Cuz T.J. never did any of that on his own — or set the tone of negotiations — with the “peace out” Instagram post, huh?  

C'mon Tim. T.J.'s agent tells him to post some boilerplate negotiations 101 pic and Pittsburgh media react like Pavlov's dogs, including those like you who know better.

— You Know It's Tru Tho (@know_tru) July 23, 2025

Watt was asked about the post Wednesday and said, “It’s fun early in the offseason to throw something out there and see what happens. It stirred things up more than I ever thought it could.” He also said both sides use “tools” and “chess pieces.”

So, please. It was posted with a purpose. Stop with the whole “You guys in the media” nonsense.

More sports

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Steve emailed after reading my column about Paul Skenes being a different type of “stopper” for the Pirates following his win to open the series against Detroit in the wake of their sweep at the hands of the pathetic White Sox.

“But did he really stop it? I hope not. Because that kind of apathy is exactly what the city and fans don’t need. Hopefully all Skenes does is give a momentary pause to rest the voices that are tired of screaming and the hearts of fans that are sick of being stomped on, because under this obtuse ownership and FO, the day it ever stops getting called out onto the carpet for its criminal management and stewardship of this franchise, will be the saddest day of all.”

If Skenes didn’t stop it, at least he “paused” it. Then the Pirates turned around and ended up sweeping a team that opened the series with the best record in the American League.

But “pauser” doesn’t have the same ring as “stopper,” does it?

“Alldayrayyray1” chimed in on the fact that Skenes had just a 5-8 record, yet a 1.91 ERA.

If Skenes wins the Cy Young, it will be the ultimate embarrassment for the Pirates which says a lot.

— Alldayrayray (@Alldayrayray1) July 22, 2025

Actually, Ray, I think the ultimate embarrassment will come when he wins it with his next team — multiple times — and the Pirates get a return worse than the Gerrit Cole trade.

Finally, Jude sent an email responding to this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast ripping the Pirates for their three-game sweep at the hands of the White Sox.

“If, as the Trib now proclaims the Nutting Pirates are irrevocably dead, then someone should have the (guts) to bury them. If the local yunzers are still so stupid as to trade bobble heads for an actual MLB team, then they don’t deserve to have any team. None at any level. And I gotta ask: is one block headed owner really more powerful than an entire fan base, more powerful than well over 100 years of being a proud professional franchise? Run that guy out of town on a rail and then into the void maybe just maybe a leader will appear. … But all yunz who know all and say so all the time are the absolute worst — no clue as to how to actually help solve this problem. How much do you get paid? How much do you earn? Organize your discombobulated (B.S.) and get er done … or move on to pickleball! There’s a sport that matches your talent.”

OK, Larry the Cable Guy. A couple of things:

1. If the Pirates ever left town, PNC Park could be the greatest pickleball venue in the world. We could hold pickleball Wimbledon there every year.

2. I’ve written numerous columns “burying” the owner and MLB for its economic structure. I’m not sure why you and some of your ilk can’t get it through your thick skulls that we in the media can’t write/speak an ownership change into existence by “running that guy out of town on a rail.”

Last time I checked, this is still America. You can’t make a guy sell something he doesn’t want to sell so long as he is operating within the rules of whatever body governs his acquisition. In this case, that’s Major League Baseball. Until they come up with a way to illustrate that Nutting has broken some sort of rule, how do you expect the media to force a sale?

3. It’s not the media’s job to “git ‘er done.” It’s not our job to solve the problem. It’s our job to illuminate the problem. We’ve been telling you for decades what the problem is. But you keep going to enough games, watching on TV and buying merchandise. So whose fault is it? You said it yourself. Is the owner more powerful than the fanbase? I dunno. You’re the fan. You tell me.