Elsewhere on these pages there is a thorough examination of the Pirates' finances and a discussion of whether owner Kevin McClatchy is in violation of, at least, the spirit of the Major League Baseball revenue-sharing plan. The money the Pirates receive from revenue sharing -- which was about $13 million last year and could be as much as $18 million this year -- is, according to the agreement, to be plowed back into baseball operations. Some people think McClatchy is not doing that.

Truth be known, it's nearly impossible to determine whether McClatchy is in compliance with the letter or the spirit of that agreement.

What is not impossible to determine is that McClatchy is in flagrant violation of the spirit of another agreement, a far more sacred one. The agreement in question is the one he has with the baseball fans of the Pittsburgh region, the one that stipulates he owes it to these fans to field a competitive team.

When McClatchy first broached the idea of building a new baseball stadium shortly after buying the team in 1996, there was strong opposition to public financing of it. In fact, a referendum that would have allocated public money to the project was overwhelmingly rejected by the voters of the region.

But the dream of a new ballpark didn't die despite the clear message sent by the voters. It didn't die because a new stadium carried with it not just the continuation of the century-old tradition of baseball in Pittsburgh but the very real possibility of a return to winning baseball. The politicians and civic leaders saw to it that McClatchy got his stadium, and, in defiance of the voters' wishes, they built it mostly with public funding

Implicit in the construction of what was to become PNC Park was the promise -- made by McClatchy -- that the Pirates would field a competitive team. We heard time and again the new stadium would be a panacea for what ailed baseball in Pittsburgh. The revenue it produced would allow the Pirates to not just compete but to be a contender.

That was a bold-faced lie.

The Pirates have had a losing season in every year of McClatchy's ownership. In his first five seasons -- 1996-2000 -- the Pirates averaged 73.7 wins a season. PNC Park opened in 2001, at which time the Pirates became worse -- not better. They averaged 70.5 wins in the first four seasons of PNC.

Time and again McClatchy has broken the spirit of the agreement he had with the fans. Not only have we seen nothing but losing baseball, but we've also seen massively disheartening moves that have weakened the franchise.

Within the past 22 months, the Pirates have traded their three best players, Aramis Ramirez, Brian Giles and Jason Kendall. Before that, they traded their best pitcher, Jason Schmidt. These were exactly the kind of trades the Pirates were not supposed to have to make once PNC Park opened.

The most egregious of these trades was the one that sent Ramirez, the best hitter the organization had developed since Barry Bonds, to the Chicago Cubs for practically nothing. But that wasn't the half of it. In making the trade, the Pirates showed they were in such a financial disarray they couldn't live up to the terms of a contract that had been drawn up little more than a year earlier.

There was another punch to the face to baseball fans this season when the Pirates' payroll came in at $33.6 million, the second lowest in baseball. The team might as well be playing at Three Rivers Stadium.

But now come the most mystifying words of all. In the Post-Gazette's examination of the Pirates' finances it was learned the team will have gross revenue exceeding $100 million this year.

In the first season of PNC Park, McClatchy let it be known the team had exceeded $100 million in revenue. It was an astonishing figure at the time and enabled McClatchy to have a payroll of almost $58 million.

Now similar gross revenues can't come close to allowing such a payroll although the Pirates have revenues to cover that payroll before they sell so much as one ticket.

McClatchy has an explanation for it all. Some of it makes sense, some of it doesn't.

Some of it probably has to do with the fact McClatchy does not control the team the way he once did. West Virginia publisher G. Ogden Nutting has put significant cash into the team in recent years and because of that has had more say in how the team is run. Nutting is a mysterious guy. Not much is known about him. But what everyone knows about him is he's a bottom-line guy.

If it were up to McClatchy the payroll probably would be higher.

But that does not alter one basic fact. McClatchy has broken his promise to Pirates fans and the way the team is going it's not likely he'll ever be able to make good on his word.