When in doubt, accuse the other guy of lying

That's the Bob Nutting philosophy! For the second straight year, the Forbes valuation of Major League franchises showed a huge profit for the Bucco owners ($25.3 million) and for the second straight year, the Pirates are denying the report.

"The information reported in Forbes is simply inaccurate," principal owner Bob Nutting said yesterday.

Neither Nutting nor CEO Kevin McClatchy has divulged how much profit the team made while spending $43.4 million on player payroll last season -- third lowest in Major League Baseball -- but they have said it was not excessive.

...

The Forbes report, released yesterday, ranked the Pirates' 2006 operating income as MLB's third highest, behind the Florida Marlins' $43.3 million and the Los Angeles Dodgers' $27.5 million.

The Marlins are also denying the report, though Forbes is standing by their numbers, of course.

So who do you believe? The lying liars that run the team, or a report that accumulates its numbers with virtually no access to the Pirates' books? Sadly, I think I would believe a report written under the Easter Bunny's byline before I believe anything that comes from the front office of this team.