The single most reprehensible term that gets spoken by the Pirates' front office is 'small market.'
To start, it's flat-out factually incorrect: There are 53 metropolitan markets in the U.S. with at least 1 million people, and Pittsburgh ranks 20th among those at 2,635,228, or close to the upper third, according to one analysis. It ranks 26th among those at 2,333,367, or right in the middle, according to official U.S. Census data. Within Major League Baseball, where this garbage is regurgitated most often, the Pirates rank 18th, right behind St. Louis, per the first study, and 21st per the Census.
'Small market' is a senselessly denigrating term applied by the Pirates to wash their hands of their own bad business practices.
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