The Pirates are the only team in baseball that doesn't have a player earning at least the average MLB salary of $3.26 million. Paul Maholm is Pittsburgh's highest-paid player at $2.5 million, according to the Boston Globe. "Four players in MLB make $20 million to $25 million and three of them play in that [Yankees] infield. [The Dodgers' Manny Ramirez makes $23 million.] With 67 percent of the season gone, the Pirates are only on the hook for less than $9 million for the remainder of 2009," former ESPN and TBS producer Ben Bouma, who lives in Pittsburgh, told the Boston Globe. The Pirates are on pace to set an American professional sports record with 17 straight losing seasons. "Last year, the Pirates are believed to have received a revenue-sharing check of $27 million from MLB, based on figures leaked to the Wall Street Journal," Bouma added. "They receive close to $35 million from the national TV contracts. That is $62 million before anyone buys a ticket, sets foot in PNC Park on Opening Day and buys a hot dog, or watches or listens to a game on local TV and radio. Not to mention what they will receive from MLB for the MLB Network and MLB.com/MLB.TV and Extra Innings packages. On top of this, they let go many front-office people [some with 20 years of service] earlier this season. "This is no longer a problem of 'how baseball is structured' any longer. This is both fundamentally and ethically wrong ... It is high time this [ownership] group is held accountable for the complete mismanagement of the franchise as their excuses have run out."