Phillies outfielder Andrew McCutchen will open the 2020 campaign on the injured list, manager Joe Girardi told reporters including Matt Gelb of The Athletic (via Twitter). McCutchen has been working back to health from a torn ACL.
This is certainly not the outcome the Phils hoped for. But there’s no indication that there’s cause for particular concern, either. McCutchen is obviously being handled with some care given that he’s returning from such a significant injury.
The timeline will surely be dictated by the progress Cutch is able to make over the coming weeks. But Girardi says the expectation is that the long-time star will be ready to join the club at some point in April, so the team obviously doesn’t anticipate an especially lengthy absence.
With McCutchen sidelined, the Phillies will presumably turn over additional opportunities to a rotating cast of others. Veteran Jay Bruce seems likely to see most of the action against righties, with switch-hitter Roman Quinn and right-handed-hitting utilityman Josh Harrison among the leading candidates to share time.
The additional roster spot increases the chances for all of the club’s many non-roster invitees. If Harrison makes the club and is slated for outfield duties, then there’ll be a bigger opening for infielder challengers such as Neil Walker, Logan Forsythe, T.J. Rivera, Phil Gosselin, and Ronald Torreyes. Or the team could help fill in for Cutch by turning to a right-handed-hitting outfielder such as Matt Szczur or Mikie Mahtook. There’s also added space available for left-handed hitters in camp such as Nick Williams, Kyle Garlick, and Nick Martini.
Hate to see that.
not surprised, he is in the twilight of his career
He also hasn’t been a stranger to injury for a while now. Great player in his prime but, unfortunately, once it began, his decline was quick and steep, even before the a c l injury. It also sucks because he has always seemed like a really good guy.
ACL*
Yep. Another bad decision by soon to be former GM Klentak.
He was on the DL once in his career, when he cracked ribs after being hit by a pitch. I wouldn’t call that “no stranger to injury”. He had 10 homers in two months last year, which would have been close to a career high had he kept that pace and hit around 30. Plus he was leading the league in walks and driving in runs from the leadoff spot. Watch the games before you made dumb statements. Maybe he’s not going to hit .300 again, or be a regular in center field, but he’s still better than most outfielders around the league.
DonB34: I was about to type pretty much the same thoughts as you did. Cutch got a tough break last year on a freaky rundown play. Prior to that he was literally the straw that was stirring the Phillies drink. No surprise to me and a lot of others that the Phillies played poorly after losing him.
Finally, Klentak has made a lot of bad FA signings, but Cutch wasn’t one of them. As an aside, and I’ve said this many times before on this forum, Klentak is in over his head. He has no idea how to evaluate pitching, especially relief pitching.
Very good and accurate response. It’s obvious where Chief Two hands has one of his hands
LOL!
Yep Phillies make playoffs last year if Cutch never goes down.
One can always count on Philly fans to be in denial.
No one cares if your suprised …
thanks for your opinion, tough guy
What’s with all these bums showing up injured to spring training this year
Really, dude? He’s recovering from surgery
Haha yep never before has anyone ever entered a season while nursing an injury.
Will hurt the offense but Bruce will play LF to start ..
Bruce wont be handed the job
i cant imagine anyone else winning the job
Williams, Quinn, Martini and Garlick are all probably just as good overall.
Bruce actually looks pretty good at the plate right now, he will start the year vs RHP with Quinn coming in for defense and Hasely in CF. vs. LHP it will be Quinn in CF and whoever wins the right handed bench bat in LF
McCutcheon was a real gamer with the Pirates and you had to fight him to get him out of the lineup.
I saw the play that he was hurt on last year and he made a twisting movement to elude the tag.I doubt he gets hurt 5-10 years before that.
This is one of the reasons that older players just cannot be relied upon absolutely,and the reason why small market teams have to weigh the chance to sign them if they are to be key components of the team.
Philly a “small market” team? You need to take your meds as directed lest delusion sets in.
I think he was just pointing out that this is why small market teams can’t sign players like this, I don’t think he was calling Philly a small market, it was just an observation in addition to what else he said
Thank you lf.
Lou needed some help.
Learn to read Lou.
Pittsburgh is the team who could not sign McCutcheon and potential injuries like this are one of the big reasons.
You may not be quite as smart as you think you are.
Big fan of Cutch. Class guy who does a lot of good in the world. Hope he’s back healthy and playing all out soon.
Agreed
Well said. Good guy
seemed like a likely case given the injury nature. get well soon, Cutch.
There is still a very viable options out there. He may not cost much and can play LF, until Mccutch Comes back. Y. PUIG. Mccutch when ready can play CF, since we have an unknown out there now in Haisley.
Cutch had already been moved to a corner prior to a significant knee injury. Doubt center is the best place for him to play when he comes back.
Cutch probability wolnt be gone long enough to warrant paying Puig as much as he will cost.
Please no
What ever happened to Ben Revere
Myers is out there. Make the Padres take Odubel back and add some cash on top. Then they can pick from anyone not named Howard and Bohm. Move Rhys to LF or put Myers in LF. Lineup is better. Clutch comes back and plays CF. Haseley can man it until Clutch is good and be the 4th OF instead of Quinn.
Hoskins in the OF again? Yikes!
Pat the Bat manned the OF, Jose Canseco played balls off his dome. You can hide a guy out there every once in a while.
Not anymore, or they would have kept Carlos Santana and Jp Crawford
Didn’t work the last he was in lf
Or just play Bruce, Kingrey, Quinn in left for a couple weeks. No need to make drastic moves. sounds like you’d run a super unstable business.
Padres are trying to give him away, and he didn’t beat his wife or gf. If they can dump Odubel at the same time?
This long recovery underscores that Cutch’s days in CF are over.
He never play CF for the Phillies. They used him in LF.
Huh. That’s funny baseball reference said he started 10 games and played 15 games in CF before his injury for the Phillies in 2019. I guess “never” means 10 or more? Maybe baseball reference is wrong?
Of those 10 games, I believe he started 2 in CF. The oyher games he switched to CF late in the game. My point was he was rarely used in CF. It was in response to the comment that implied this injury would mean he can’t play CF anymore. He hasn’t really been playing CF for some time. The Phils never intended to use him as a pure CF and this injury changes nothing.
Uhhhmmm…… dude above said he STARTED 10 games in center. And I watched those games. So yes, it was more than 2 games. Stats exist for a reason.
Yea. You’re totally right. I read the stats wrong. Looks like he started in CF and moved fo LF in 8 of the 10 games.
First point about the Phillies not really using him as tjeir main CF is still valid, but the rest is an incorrect mess. I apologize.
Wil Myers is awful
It’s almost like the Padres wish they could trade him or something.
Hoskins in LF and Cutch in CF? Nah, that ain’t gonna happen. Bruce will get the LF at bats vs. RHP to start off the year. Could see Neil Walker (Switch-hitter) play there as well.
Whatever the case, gotta hope Girardi’s timeline of “sometime in mid to late April” for Cutch’s return is accurate.
Bruce can’t throw.
That wasn’t the easiest injury to come back from. Shame.
Segura probably opens the season in the leadoff spot now.
ACL is a serious injury that takes time to fully recover from. Doubtful he will ever have the speed he had. He will have trouble trying to play CF.
I tore mine along with some other ligaments about 15 years ago. Definitely never the same after 2 surgeries.
Were you a elite athlete? Had one of the best surgeons on the planet? Spent hours upon hours every single day for a year so you could come back stronger than ever?
Or did you just have a some guy do your surgery and went to physical therapy 3 times a week for a hour for a month or 2? Every situation is different but when a company has millions of dollars invested in an employee they tend to get better treatment then the average Joe. They just try to get you able to do your daily activities not go out and rush for 1500 yards in the NFL. And the more ligaments and damage done to your knee has a huge impact.
Lmao. A knee injury is a knee injury. Doesn’t matter what the circumstances are. The knee is literally never the same.
It’s not a brand new better unbreakable material athletes get vs regular people. In fact the knee is worse off in many instances cause of all the drilling they have to do to put in a potentially weaker/thinner, ligament they made.
Reason most athletes aren’t the same is mostly mental trying to figure out how to trust the knee again.
They don’t use him in CF and likely never will after the injury.
he wasnt playing CF anyway last year.
Calm down he will be fine. Some of you guys must not watch much baseball or are aware of modern medicine. His speed has been gone for years. His cf days were in the past already. He will come back just fine. And its not 1983 or 1997 Doctors have mastered acl surgeries. Running backs come back from them all the time and they use the acl a lot more than a baseball player. It takes up to a year to recover and it hasn’t been a year yet.
I suspect they wanted to give him the full 9 months that is suggested, which mean he starts spring training mid-March, and probably don’t want to force him too fast into game action. He’ll be ok. Adam Eaton isn’t much younger and he came back pretty much to his old form.
At least he didn’t reinjure anything. This is just precautionary, no need to rush him back. At the same time, in 2019, Phils raked with Cutch in the lineup and struggled without him. So this puts a damper on the early season for sure.
Should the phillies take a flyer on puig?
They have too many OFs and if Cutch is only out for a few weeks, the move seems unnecessary, but it’s not a terrible idea. I wish they kept Dickerson.
They have like 2 outfielders, cutch n harper, that are as good as Puig
Getting Puig would be a huge mistake
Uhh why? Because the Phillies locker room is filled with high character people already?
It is. Despite rumors, Harper was by all accounts a great clubhouse guy. That being said, everyone in Cincinnati seemed to like Puig last year so I don’t have problems with him. It’s just the Phils have a ton of OFs and Cutch may not be out for long. Splurging on Puig may be a waste.
Hot take:
They should strat with Bohm at 3rd and move Kingrey to LF.
Bohm isn’t ready.
Should have never cut his dreads.
All down from there.
Is anyone familiar with the show Arrested Development and the running gag of the one armed-man, J. Walter Weatherman, who George Bluth uses to teach his kids life lessons?
youtu.be/PJfoddFfJgw
I feel like this is a similar scenario with Andrew McCutcheon where a Phillies coach would yell at Jean Segura, “This is what happens when you don’t hustle!”
edit–Garlick bats right-handed, I believe….
And water is wet.
Williams. Ugh
People are saying Puig would be expensive. Then some are suggesting Wil Myers. Myers would cost 20 million for 3 more seasons. NO thanks. At this point of spring training Puig will sign a 1 yr. deal maybe 7-8 million, and if we don’t contend we can move him at the deadline. Why are we as fans concerned about expensive additions. This team makes a ton of money before ticket sales, concessions, parking and merchandise sales. They have a very lucrative TV deal, a 200 million dollar payroll, why not add Puig. He has a good season here they have the room to sign him, as they have approximately 50 million off the books after 2020 season. Puig would be great here.
But the Phillies have way too many OFers. Why add another when McCutchen would be back within a month (giving it additional time due to the injury, but 2 weeks seems possible) into the season? Are you going to field OFers in the infield for some playing time? If the NL had a DH, then it would make sense to sign Puig.
Hopefully McCutch isn’t out long. He is a great guy and helps any lineup in the majors. I am just curious how much loss of offensive production he will have when he returns. Until his injury last season, Phillies were the favorites to win the division. After his injury, Phillies fell flat. The wheels came off and that goes to show how important McCutchen was to that lineup. Since McCutchen left Pittsburgh, the offense hasn’t been the same. Last year was the first time the Pirates had a fairly good offense since the McCutchen-era. I wish McCutchen well and I hope he has one of his finer seasons after the injury.
Cutch’s injury won’t affect his hitting or throwing. Might not go from first to third on a single as often, but other than that, he’ll be fine. Defensively? Maybe starting off a little tentative (To be expected.) until he gains confidence in the knee might see a few more balls than normal drop in for hits.
Other than that, he should be fine. Oh, one final comment: Note to Cutch: If you get into a run down play again, just stand there and let ’em tag you out!
To quote Bill Parcells, “You can’t win a game from the trainers room.”
They missed his on base skills at the top when he went down. Who knows where he’ll be now. Speed and range officially gone I’d imagine. Girardi has his work cut out with that crew.
Exactly why I’ve been saying since December to sign Hunter Pence. Should have brought him back, his energy would have been priceless and it would allow Hasely to sit vs lefties
Pence was actually pretty good last year. Would not have been disappointed to see him back in Philly as a bench bat. He signed with the Giants where he also had some success.
Yasiel Puig?
Dang, last season completely fell apart after he went down. Hope he’s better soon.
Not having Cutch leading off to start the season is a blow, albeit not a huge one so long as he returns before May 1st like Girardi indicated.
I guess Segura is our best option to lead off in Cutch’s absence. Kingery? Nah, his OBP doesn’t justify him in the top spot.
As an aside, and speaking of Kingery, I hope Girardi keeps him at one position and in the same spot in the batting order all year. Would be good to see what Scotty could do with 650 at bats in that scenario.
My choices for Scotty? Second base in the field and seventh in the batting order.
No problem.
Garlick, Bruce.
But who leads off?
This discussion is all well and good, but we ain’t playing baseball this yr boys. The Corona virus hits harder than anyone in the Phils lineup!