"The Pirates are doing well at collecting revenue sharing," Forbes associate editor Kurt Badenhausen said. "Otherwise, there are not a lot of bright spots for the Pirates ."

According to figures, the Pirates' team value decreased 1 percent in the past year, dropping from $292 million to $288 million.

The valuation ranked the Pirates' 29th among major league clubs, ahead of only the Florida Marlins ($277 million).

The Pirates were one of 10 franchises to have its value decline during the past year, but they also were one of 28 teams to turn a profit. Only the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers had negative operating income.

The Pirates , who are trying to snap a streak of 16 consecutive losing seasons, saw an operating income of $15.9 million last year, down from $17.6 million the previous year.

An increase in player expenses and a decrease in gate receipts were responsible for the reduced operating income, Forbes said.

The Pirates have made a profit for the fifth consecutive year thanks to MLB's revenue-sharing system that is worth millions of dollars to smaller-payroll teams.

A Pirates spokesman said the team would have no comment on the Forbes.com rankings.

Badenhausen said the Pirates' new management could help the franchise turn things around, but he concluded that it's "pretty bleak" for Pirates' fans.

"There is a little bit of hope," he said. "But it's tough right now to be a Pirates fan. They are near the bottom of Baseball in terms of revenue. Attendance is near the bottom and the losing is there. There is only so much fans can take.

"But even if you are at the bottom of the league in terms of revenues, you still get a significant check from the teams at the top of the league. It allows teams at the bottom to do pretty well in terms of turning a profit."

The Pirates had $65 million in player expenditures (up from $61 million in 2008), but the gate receipts dwindled from $29 million to $26 million. That's because Pirates attendance dropped from almost 1.75 million fans in 2007 to 1.6 million fans last season.

The Yankees, not surprisingly, top the list with a team valuation of $1.5 billion, a 15 percent increase over the past year. The New York Mets ranked second at $912 million. Following them were three more large-payroll teams, the Boston Red Sox ($833 million), Los Angeles Dodgers ($722 million) and Chicago Cubs ($700 million).