Giants outfielder Andrew McCutchen has cleared revocable trade waivers and is now eligible to be traded to any team, reports Robert Murray of The Athletic (on Twitter). It’s at least a mild surprise to see McCutchen clear, though he’s still owed a fairly notable $3.155MM of this season’s $14.75MM salary. He landed atop MLBTR’s most recent list of the top 20 remaining August trade candidates.
At the time he was placed on waivers, The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly tweeted that there was a “very good chance” that the Giants would deal McCutchen, given the team’s increasing deficit in the NL West and the Wild Card race. McCutchen isn’t in the starting lineup for the Giants tonight, though skipper Bruce Bochy told reporters prior to first pitch that it was just a standard day off for the outfielder (link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area).
McCutchen, 31, has turned in a .255/.353/.412 slash with 14 homers, 26 doubles and a pair of triples in his first and quite possibly only season with the Giants. That’s a far cry from the brilliant production that earned him National League MVP honors a few years back, though his bottom-line numbers have undoubtedly been weighed down a bit by his extremely pitcher-friendly home park. Context-neutral stats like OPS+ (108) and wRC+ (113) suggest he’s been anywhere from eight to 13 percent better than a league-average offensive player.
With McCutchen free to be traded anywhere, the Giants should find multiple teams with interest, and they’ll now be able to include some cash considerations to help offset a partial portion of his remaining salary. The Indians are reported to be in the market for outfield upgrades but are already well north of their franchise-record payroll, so perhaps they opted to pass on claiming him for fear of being stuck with an additional $3MM+.
The Yankees, meanwhile, are currently without Aaron Judge and are unable to play Giancarlo Stanton in the outfield due to hamstring issues that are limiting him to DH. Neil Walker has been playing right field for the first time in his career given that pair of injury issues. While both Judge and Stanton are expected back healthy by season’s end, adding McCutchen would give the team another solid bat and provide some cover while Judge, Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius mend.
That’s just a pair of clubs with obvious outfield needs, of course, and there could certainly be additional interest in McCutchen throughout the league. The Athletics stand out as another speculative on-paper fit, and yesterday’s trade of Daniel Murphy from the Nats to the Cubs serves as a reminder that teams are more keen than ever on stockpiling depth even if it means a short-term acquisition of a player who may not look like a clear fit when his new team’s roster is at full strength.
Phillies should go get him. Herrera has been terrible since May
Cutch really shouldn’t play center anymore, so idk if that is really an option… but I would like him in right. Williams doesn’t look great out there in the field.
Herrera probably cant comunicate his problems.
Schmidt is laughing somewhere.
indians please
Why didn’t Cleveland claim him?
Will this one piece give them a title?
.255? Meh avg
Very good clubhouse presence, does everything right, rarely looks lost in the batters box. Always seems to put the ball in play and just hits a lot of dead fly balls to the deep parts of AT&T. I don’t know why any team wouldn’t want him, it would cost a lotto ticket prospect at best.
Clubhouse presence means little in a few weeks of renting as he’ll barely know the new teammates before the end of the season.
Baseball is a tight knit community and everyone around the league knows him. I’m pretty sure it would only take a few hours for people to look to him as a leader.
Great pooint. I’m a Cubs fan and I’d take the guy in a heartbeat. Mucthen will play way better when he feels he has something to play for.
Does everything right? No he doesn’t, that’s why he’s having a down year.
Saying things like “rarely looks lost in the batters box” is just hyperbole. Focus on production, not airy fairy stuff.
Lighten up, Francis.
I am still stunned when people are bringing up batting average as a measure of value in . He still gets on base and hits for a bit of power, would hit for more if he didn’t play in SF. His OPS+ of 108 is about 10% better than the average major-league hitter. If you’re going to assign a player offensive value, use OBP or SLG or wOBA or ISO or….well, anything except batting average. There’s been plenty of players throughout history who hit .300 with almost no offensive value. The difference between batting .255 and .300 is 4 hits per 100 ABs. That’s random luck.
The San Francisco fog helps the ball travel further.
Uh, no – a cursory glance at park effects data would show you that SF is basically one of the worst hitting parks in baseball.
Yeah, it;s all about BA.
As a giants fan, it was great watching you, Cutch. I hope the Pirates get you just to brighten their fanbase. I’m sure the Giants are selling low.
Just realized the Pirates have been garbage lol. He’s going to the Cardinals or Indians tbh
Ummm….baseball1600. You do know that the Pirates currently have a better record than the Giants…right?
And the Nationals have a better record than the Pirates.. but they are selling aren’t they? Your logic is confusing.
Ok…so by that theory the Nationals are also garbage ? What’s so confusing about what I said?
Considering Pitt is 7.5 and Wash is 6.5 games out of the WC spot, I imagine his “Pitt is garbage” statement is indicating they are less attractive than say Yanks or Astros.
No. Pittsburgh has been garbage in August. I meant as of late. No way they are buying considering how cold they have been and how hot the cardinals have been.
He would perfectly fit with the Phillies, Cleveland and the St Louis Cardinals.
why cardinals? they have a plethora of OF. Besides maybe for veteran presence.
Well, Fowler is having an historically bad season, so there’s that…
Ozuna just hit the DL with a bad shoulder.
Welcome to the CLE Cutch!
Cutch would help and look great in
PinStripes, joining his former teammate Walker.
Don’t be surprised if the Giants keep him in the hopes of resigning him for next year.
What a Bobby Evans thing to do. But I think they are going to try and make a big splash again in the offseason and eventually will probably have a fire sale in July when they’ll be 10 games out. With some better management, they could be trending towards the right direction. They have intriguing young talent (Moronta, Duggar, Hanson, D-Rod, Suarez) and Belt and Crawford could probably still be above average major leaguers for a year or two more. They just don’t have the will to trade veterans like Bumgarner for actual value.
that shows you don’t know about how the giants operate. They won’t have a fire sale and will do everything they can to avoid it.. The giants have always been about shifting pieces and moving guys but if they were ever to have a fire sale, right now would be when to do it.
If the Giants wanted to keep him why put him waivers?
Every team puts a lot of guys on waivers they don’t intend to trade. I’m not saying they won’t trade him; but they have a stubborn front office that believes they’re close enough to compete next year and they don’t have much of an outfield going into next year.
They’ll probably try and get Harper, but he won’t sign (I’m sorry, but why play in California on a $300M contract when over a hundred of your games will cost at least an extra %13 in taxes — which could very well go up; knowing just how much the California legislature hates anybody with wealth)
You trade him for something and try to resign in offseason. You don’t keep him to try and resign him
well, he’s not worth $3M to a single team — so they’re not getting much in return even if they can trade him. And they still sell McCutchen jerseys … so
Uh, no. Teams don’t put players on waivers that they have no intention of trading. That’s absurd. Teams put guys on waivers that they will trade if the return is good enough. Just because a lot of guys who were put on waivers don’t get traded doesn’t mean they had no intention of trading them. It just means the return wasn’t perceived as good enough. But if you do want to keep a guy you don’t put him on waivers.
There’s no guarantee anyone would re-sign after being traded. If you really want to keep a guy you don’t trade him. If you really want him give him a QO. But barring that, the best chance of re-signing a guy is to not trade him and make him a great offer him during the exclusive negotiating period that a team is afforded at the end of the season.
the bigger issue with signing harper is the same that SF has with every hitter – the numbers. AT&T is a bad offensive park and worse for lefties. The only lefty that has had huge success here is bonds, because a homer has to clear that wall. You can be a massive power left handed hitter who gets a lot of hard singles that come off the wall and bounce to the first baseman whereas in any other park it tacks a good 10 HRs to your total.
I agree with everything you say, but it doesn’t always matter. If you offer the most money/best contract, a lot, and probably most, will sign regardless of the ballpark. As I mentioned above, Greinke is an example of a guy going to a park that’s not favorable, but he did so because the D’backs offered the most money.
Teams are often just interested in the desirability of their players and are looking to see how they’re perceived by other organizations and have no intention whatsoever of trading the player.
Braves.
As a Giants fan, I’d rather see the club hold on to him and make a qualifying offer in the offseason. The possible draft pick compensation would be greater than saving $3m and/or receiving some crappy player that never developed.
He’d take a QO.
Then the Giants get another year of Cutch. Its not like they cant afford the risk.
Exactly. Doubt he gets offers for more than 10MM a season from here on out.
The dude plays a great RF and Pence will be off the books. The unlikelihood that Evans signs a major OF bomber, Cutch will probably be the best option for 2019. Theres no reason for a cash rich team like the Giants to giveaway Cutch with nothing substantial in return.
Yes there is. It’s still iffy as to whether they can get under the CBT threshold. Letting Cutch go would help there. Whether he stays or goes he’s still a FA at the end of the season. Giving him a QO with him accepting would be an overpay for only one year, when they’re saving their resources for this upcoming FA class. And they can let him go and still sign him for 2019 if they really like idea of him in RF going forward. There really is no reason not to let him go, and if they get something interesting for him all the better.
Cutch at $18m/1yr is better than paying another Span or D-Jack for a 3yr multi million dollar deal. The Giants are notorious for not being able to sign prime offensive players and are stuck overpaying crap for years on end.
Besides, Cutch will be signed to a 2-3 year deal by somebody. He’s not a stick in the mud. Theres a reason why he is top ‘most likely player to be traded’ player right now.
Signing Cutch versus signing Span or AJax (not sure who D-Jack is) is a selective, straw man-type argument. In comparison to Marwin Gonzalez, A.J. Pollock, or even Bryce Harper there are better alternatives than the proffered Span and “D-Jack”..
Yes TY for the correction. I caught it after I sent it. 🙂
Marwin is batting .240 with 14 jacks in a HR park. He would be awful at the Bell. Bryce Harper would never come here and I doubt Pollock would either. Its a known fact that hitters stats will digress at the Bell. The only FA hitters that SF ever signs are past their prime has beens. Our best acquisitions came by way of trades and claims.
Name the best FA hitters that SF has signed in the last 10 years.
I guarantee that none of those guys that you won’t be able to mention were as good as a 32-year-old Cutch on a one year deal.
I just threw those guys out there to illustrate there are better players than Span and Jackson in FA. And who’s to say who would or wouldn’t sign with the Giants when there is enough money on the table? No one knows that. The Giants have the money to sign anyone, and Pollock or Harper wouldn’t be the first guys to go to the team that made the biggest offer. Greinke went to a hitter’s park because the D’backs offered the most money. SF holds a lot of appeal and it’s not always about where a guy can put up the biggest numbers.
First off, I’m not talking about FA pitchers. Secondly, you haven’t listed the top FA HITTER signings in the last 10 years. If you try, you will see my point. The Giants are always the top bidder and always strike out. Yes, I agree the Giants have some good chemistry with the staff, teammates, coaches, and fans. The park is still one of the best after 18 years but hitters worth anything do not want to come here. Pablo turned down the Giants who outbid the Red Sox by $10m. Stanton refused to accept a trade here. I get it that you are a fan as I am as well but you can’t deny the facts. Cutch @ $18m/1yr is better than anything that they will get in FA. If he signs with somebody else, that’s just extra gravy as they can add an additional weapon to their farm.
“Name the best FA hitters that SF has signed in the last 10 years.”
Everyone knows the Giants are mostly about pitching and defense. They have concentrated on that first, followed by the IF, and have supplemented the OF as the last priority. But Pence was basically a FA when he re-signed with the Giants. Despite his failure as a Giant Aaron Rowand was probably the highest ranked FA out-fielder when he signed for the 2008 season, Angel Pagan in 2012. Melky Cabrera. Mike Morse. Nori Aoki, Denard Span.
They’ve also tried to address the OF with home grown talent and minor league FAs (with which they have had some) success: Juan Perez, Andres Torres, Gregor Blanco, Nate Schierholtz, Jarrett Parker, Mac Williamson, Gorkys Hernandez.
Yeah the list is a bit underwhelming, but look at what other team do. It’s not that much different, because the better players are usually still with the team they came up with: Trout, Betts, Judge, Harper, Benintendi, Pollock, Peralta, Hoskins, or they’ve been traded before reaching free-agency like Yelich
And whom did you think they should have signed: JD Martinez or Lorenzo Cain? We know why they didn’t. Cepedes, Encarnacion, or Bautista from the year before? Dexter Fowler? The only FA that turned the Giants down that I know of was Nelson Cruz, But he signed with thw M’s who play in as much of a pitcher’s park as the Giants.
Haha! Now do you see my point? All burnouts. Cutch at 32 is way better than all of the FA signings that you just mentioned and he’d only be on a 1 yr deal. If you want an outfield consisting of Rowands, Aokis and Spans than you are just plain off of your rocker. Either way, now that you’ve made my point, I’m done here.
there is a huge reason to get rid of him – if cutch moves enough is cleared for sept to evaluate callups. If you don’t clear some salary, the tax isn’t going to let you call anyone up and you probably want to take a look at a bunch of guys, garcia, shaw, etc. prior to next spring.
The Giants were $5.1M under the limit as of last month. There will be plenty of available slots for those guys as well as plenty of money. At this point, Cutch wasn’t claimed so if a move were to happen, the Giants would still be on the hook for a portion of Cutchs remaining $3m+ and they would be out on the options with Cutch. The dude is staying and all those guys will get a shot next month.
“…I’m not talking about FA pitchers.”
What’s the difference between a hitter signing to play in a pitcher’s park. and a pitcher signing to pitch in a hitter’s park?
You’re wrong, They weren’t all burnouts. Melky Cabrera had a 121 OPS+ at KC the year before signing with the Giants, and a 157 OPS+ after he did. Mike Morse posted a 130 OPS+ for the Giants after signing. The Giants, like a lot of teams sometimes gamble on guys coming back from injury, which was the case with Morse and Span. It paid off with Morse. Aaron Rowand was 8th on MLBTRs top 50 free agents. The trouble with you is you argue like you had the foresight that all of have since gained with hindsight. If you knew so many signings were bad you should be working in the FO.
Pablo wanted to go play with his good friends Handley Ramirez and Big Papi. Stanton turned down the Giants because he wanted to play in NY or LA on a team with a better chance of contending. He also turned down the Cardinals if you remember.
Neither you, nor I, nor anyone posting here knows how the payroll sits relative to the CBT threshold. There is a convoluted formula for determining that, and you won’t find it at Cott’s, Sprtrac, or wherever.
“If you want an outfield consisting of Rowands, Aokis and Spans…”
I would also ask that you not tell me what I want. That is not only not what I was saying, it is not what I want either. These straw man arguments are tiresome, and totally unconvincing.
And lastly, you’re off your rocker if you think $18M+ isn’t a vast overpay for McCutchen.
First off, a pitcher in any stadium vs a hitter in any stadium are not comparable. Not sure where you are trying to go with that angle.
Second, I am right about all those players. Melky had some good stats going but he was also juicing and he got caught so there goes that theory. The rest of the guys may have had their moments but their contracts were all ridiculous. Ridiculous because that’s what SF has to do to sign FA hitters. If you won’t take my word on the problems with signing hitters to play in the Bell then maybe you can take the word of everyone else including those the in the Giants media circles. All bloggers and staff writers talk about it. The level of pessimism with Giants chances of signing top FA hitters is very strong. Go ahead and hang your hat on guys like Rowand, Pagan, Cabrera and Aoki. Those guys were all signed as contingency plans because their main targets refused the Giants top bids.
“First off, a pitcher in any stadium vs a hitter in any stadium are not comparable. Not sure where you are trying to go with that angle.”
Would you like to explain that bit of logic, or lack thereof? Are you saying that a pitcher’s wariness to sign with the Rockies, is no way comparable to a hitter’s wariness of signing with the Giants?
“Melky had some good stats going but he was also juicing and he got caught so there goes that theory.”
That’s hindsight! Were the Giants supposed to know he would be suspended for PEDs?
And I never said the Giants have an easy time signing hitters. What I said was the Giants have the funds to offer anyone they want the best contract. And we all know that some, if not most, will go to the team offering the best deal regardless of the park.
“Those guys were all signed as contingency plans because their main targets refused the Giants top bids.”
How about some specifics? I’d like to see the names all those FA hitter’s that turned the Giants down forcing them to go with inferior talent. If you can do that it would be the one convincing thing you’ve posted.
Explain what logic? Im not the one trying to make a comparison between hitters and pitchers. That’s all you.
You have failed time and time again to prove that the Giants can do better in FA than a 32yo Cutch on a one year deal. I’m sorry that you can’t see past your own nose here.
I’m done with this conversation as you are obviously way too shortsided on the issue. You keep proving my point and apparently have no clue that you are doing so.
I will cede this discussion to you and let you think you won something here. Bottom line, don’t get your hopes up for a player like Harper ever signing as a FA in the midst of their prime. It won’t happen unless the Giants offer a ridiculous overpay in per year and legnth in years.
Okay, this has been like talking to a brick wall. Yes I made the analogy of a pitcher signing to play in a hitter’s park, with a hitter signing to play in a pitcher’s park. You said they were not comparable. I’m asking you to explain how the’re not.
I also offered AJ Pollock as a target better than McCutchen. But for you it’s seems like it’s Cutch or nobody. Now who’s close-mined?
I offered you historical evidence in the Giants inability to bring in FA talent. You are rosterbating in lala-land. Come back to reality and learn that recent history is more right than you are.
No one is going to sign Cutch if he has a QO attached to him
I’d be very surprised if SF trades McCutchen at all. My guess is instead of searching diligently for a trade partner, Evans is simply looking for excuses not to trade him. Giants just can never bring themselves to trade their veterans whether they’re home grown or not.
Yeah, they should have never held on to veterans like Denard Span, Matt Moore, Eduardo Nunez, George Kontos, and Austin Jackson.
This is an Astros player if I’ve ever seen 1
I’d be wary of this as an A’s fan. With Altuve returning and if the Astros can get a solid upgrade in LF, that’s troublesome for us. I hate 1-game playoffs.
He makes zero sense for the Cardinals, not sure what Ozuna going to the DL has to do with this. They have Bader and Jose Martinez locked in with O’Neill and Munoz to play, and then get Adolis Garcia and Randy Arozarena once September 1st rolls around. Dexter Fowler has long since been replaced
Matt Adams also plays left, which I left off the list. Because he’s about as good as Schwarber defensively, but he can still fill the spot if needed
Not sure that low bar you set is a reason for a team like the Cards, who want to get better defensively, to employ a defensive liability. Just because one team does something questionable doesn’t make it a good idea.
…the Cardinals were the first team to put him in left. Lol. And my point wasn’t that they will do it, because they won’t. My point was McCutchen doesn’t make sense at all for this team because they have so many outfield options already
I still don’t get it. Why pass on someone like McCutheon because you have Matt Adams? Cutch is a clear upgrade over Adams. He’s been good in RF for the Giants, and RF at AT&T is large and difficult. They may have lots of OF options, but as long as Adams is one of them, McCutheon is a fit.
It’s about depth. Should they sustain a few injuries, or unacceptable performance from some of the youngster,who would be better to fill in?
Who is “McCutheon”?! LMAO, just getting you back on the spelling error call out 😀
I think you are misinterpreting Adams fit with the Cardinals. He is here to be a lefty power hitter, mostly as a pinch hitter, who can take spot starts at first. He could play outfield in emergencies. That’s it.
McCutchen would be the Cardinals sixth outfielder at best behind Ozuna, Bader, Martinez, O’Neill, and Munoz, and that’s if you put him in front of the two other young guys coming up based solely on experience, not performance. They already have an “emergency outfielder” in Adams, that’s all McCutchen would be with this club, and nothing about that makes sense to pay that much salary for that.
Not only the salary, but he would take away at bats from the guys that need to stay hot for the post season if they make it in. They don’t need another average right handed bat and defender in the outfield, he probably doesn’t even make the post season roster at this point with all of the options in front of him. He’s a downgrade defensively for every outfielder ahead of him aside from Martinez, who is such an above average hitter that it’s well worth the defensive limitations, especially with Bader‘ a great range in center.
How did nobody claim him?
I mean was a mccutchen and 3 mill dollars from the giants for an ok prospect like james karinchak that hard of a deal for the indians?
Giants are looking for salary relief in a deal, they aren’t going to pay down most of what he has left to get a middling prospect.
“Astros … “
Yankees
No one
Cutch being traded was treated as some sort of epic betrayal here by the media, the “fans” and even some of the fans and now, just a few months later, not one team was willing to take him for free.
This reality, however, will never change the established narrative.
In all fairness, Cutch wasn’t necessarily offered for free. The Giants could still revoke the waiver if the claiming team wasn’t willing to offer something interesting in return.
I feel like if Coppy was still around, I feel like he would have worked his magic to get him for next to nothing and sit him on the bench
Let me guess: Bochy still won’t play Austin Slater after Cutch is traded?
Extra ABs for Pence?
Cutch and Pence both sat tonight while Slater played with Duggar and Gorkys, So much for that conspiracy theory.
It’s easy to see why yaketymac said that though. Boch seems to have something against Slater. It’ll be peter bourjos or something. Or Hansen Duggar Gorkys.
Gorkys Hernandez is terrible.
Conspiracy theory? I’m a Giants fan and have watched with my own eyes Bochy’s refusal to play Slater and other players in their 20s. Veterans are Bochy’s blind spot and it’s getting worse and really tedious with age
All managers like vets. Young kids make mental mistakes, and nothing bothers managers more than that. For example there was a game earlier this season when Slater made the first out at 3B, and then did it again about 2 weeks later. Without those bonehead plays, Bochy just might have been willing to play him more often,
Nate Schierholtz says hi.
I’m shocked the Indians didn’t claim him. A mere 3 mil left on his contract? That’s minimal, plus they would have had a 48 hour window to get a deal done, a LL prospect and maybe get SF to eat some of the 3 mil if the Indians are that strapped for cash.
Yeah, it’s kind of a bummer that $3M was too much for the Indians, A sad statement on baseball. But as the article pointed out, once the claim was made, SF could have just let him go and the Tribe would be stuck with all $3M price tag. They still might work out a deal with SF picking up a portion of the salary though.
So many Pirates’ “fans” declared themselves Indians fans after the Cutch trade because “the Indians want to win” while “the Pirates are cheap and don’t want to win.”
But, the Indians wouldn’t even pay his remaining salary to get him for free.
Those “fans” must be so confused.
I dont see how the A’s are a fit, unless it pushes Krush Davis to full-time DH. Which I’m entirely fine with – he’s a disaster in the field. But with Laureano showing out at CF, Piscotty a solid option in RF, and a rotation of Canha/Martini in LF (with Pinder also able to play the corner OF spots).. I just dont see us using a roster spot on him. We also have Boog, Fowler, Mateo, and Joyce coming up in September..
All that said I’d give an arm like Norge Ruiz or a decent defender like MI Ryan Gridley or OF BJ Boyd for him.. or some combo like that. Probably not enough to get Cutch though, but just dont see us pushing for him.
Stanton has been playing right field the past two games. He’s been able to.
Phillies most likely. Maybe Atlanta.
To address McCutchen to the Yankees. Why would they add another descending , now average player to a roster already full of them ? In my opinion. The Yankees aren’t winning anything this year. I’m the biggest Yankee fan there is but I’m just being honest. I have to agree with what Pedro said. They don’t look hungry. Boston does. Without motivation or any players who can translate that motivation to a lagging team. They ain’t going nowhere. They may win 100 games but who cares if you get eliminated in the wild card round. Which it looks like they will.