Talks between the Pirates and Andrew McCutchen on a potential reunion have begun to accelerate, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. A deal between the two sides could be completed by early next week.
A reunion between McCutchen and the Pirates has been seen as something of a formality for several months now. McCutchen returned to his original organization last year, signing a one-year deal worth $5MM to serve as the team’s designated hitter and a part-time outfielder. He told Mackey at the time of his signing that he hoped to finish his career back in Pittsburgh, which felt like home. Cutch reiterated his desire to play in Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh only back in May, and after his season ended in early September with a partial tear of his Achilles, Pirates GM Ben Cherington said they hoped for a new deal and planned to talk with McCutchen this winter.
The now-37-year-old McCutchen is a franchise icon with the Pirates, who selected him with the 11th overall pick back in 2005 and watched him develop from one of the game’s top prospects, to a Rookie of the Year candidate, to a five-time All-Star and eventual National League MVP (2013). McCutchen signed a $51.5MM extension with the Bucs in 2012 but was traded after the team picked up an option for the seventh and final season of the deal — a swap that brought current cornerstone Bryan Reynolds to Pittsburgh.
After stops with the Giants, Yankees, Phillies and Brewers, McCutchen returned home last year and spoke often about his love of Pittsburgh and his desire to finish out his career there. It wasn’t all pure nostalgia, however, as the four-time Silver Slugger proved he still had life in his bat as well. McCutchen tallied 473 plate appearances and posted a .256/.378/.397 batting line, swatting a dozen homers, collecting 19 doubles and walking at a massive 15.9% clip.
The timing of McCutchen’s injury was particularly unfortunate, as it came on the cusp of a milestone. McCutchen sits at 299 career home runs — just one shy of becoming just the 160th player in MLB history to reach 300 home runs. The Pirates open the 2024 season on the road, so it’s possible that his milestone round-tripper could come away from the home fans, but regardless of where that historic long ball takes place, the fans at PNC Park will give McCutchen a hero’s welcome whenever he first takes the field again next season.
Assuming McCutchen resumes his role as a primary designated hitter, he’ll slot into a lineup with Reynolds and Jack Suwinski locked into outfield spots, Ke’Bryan Hayes and Oneil Cruz on the left side of the infield, Henry Davis behind the plate and recently signed Rowdy Tellez at first base. The Pirates currently have a projected payroll of just $58MM, and re-signing McCutchen at or close to the same terms as last year would push that to $63MM. It’s not clear quite how high the team’s payroll will go, but Cherington said at this month’s Winter Meetings that the payroll will increase over last year’s $73MM mark.
If you like him so much, just sign him to a lifelong contract where he plays until he can no longer and then he becomes an employee of the team’s backhouse or coaching staff.
I’m surprised more teams don’t so this for long time vets.
Or, and hear me out for a second, keep doing one year contracts and don’t lock into a lifetime contract.
I think pirates should sign him in March once they can move Oviedo to the IL spot, if he wants to be a Pirate then take one for the team, go ahead and agree to a contract but don’t sign it until 40 man roster space is available in springtime.
I said the same thing about Liam Hendriks and the Sox. He seems to love Chicago and the organization. Might as well sign him to a 2 year deal (since he is missing most of the season and let him rehab) but announce when you can add him directly to the 60-day IL in spring.
Maybe Cutch doesn’t want to commit to that when his playing career is over. Have we thought about that at all?
He freely chooses to live in Pittsburgh and really really maybe even only wants to play in Pittsburgh. No need for a contract. They have a good relationship that’s mutually beneficial.
His wife is from the area and now his children attend school in Franklin Park, north of Pittsburgh
Like another local and fan favorite, David Bednar, Cutch gives back to the community and is well respected by everyone locally
Agreed. He’s such a perfect fit here, should just be a formality. I want him back but don’t want it to effect any potential SP signings.
They have the resources to sign Cutch and any starting pitcher they want. The kind they are targeting they can sign 4 of them.
Bob Nutting has the resources to go after whoever they want. But that doesn’t mean he will.
It also does not mean that the guys they want want to sign with Pittsburgh.
@mlb1225 I think it’s somewhere in the middle. Nutting could run the team at $100-150M without a problem, but they aren’t a top tier team and Nutting couldn’t reasonably outspend top markets.
You keep saying that they could increase payroll to up to $100 million but there’s no evidence that this will happen
Could and will are two different things
Oh I don’t expect them to, I’m saying financially they’d still make money running a payroll that high. That’s my definition of could, I guess.
Sorry, I was responding to Dream but I appreciate your response Neal
They signed Emanual Chapman, a 25 year old right handed pitcher from Cuba this morning according to their website
In 3 years, he has an ERA of 9.82 and easily walks more batters per 9 innings than he strikes out
He was signed for $200,000
I said they could spend 100m and never said they would. I won’t be presenting any evidence or my expert opinion because I don’t believe they want to spend 100m. I expect them to add Cutch for as cheap as they think they can and another pitcher or 2 you would hope for as cheap as they can. Only way I see them get to 100m is if they think a mid tier free agent pitcher is being undervalued. Not likely to happen.
At every home game last year, when Cutch’s name was announced, he received a standing ovation
His very first AB, at the home opener, the Umpire allowed Cutch to take his ovation and didn’t penalize the Pirates for violating the rules
He’s indeed a fan favorite and I’m lucky enough to have his home jersey with his autograph, framed in my home
His and AJ Burnett jersey autographed and framed
They’ll be worth 5 bucks each at your garage sale
I have an entire room full of collectables, including those 2 framed jerseys, autographed baseballs, autographed Steeler footballs including a Super Bowl 40 with signatures of every player, autographed mini helmets; Penguin hockey pucks and autographed memorabilia of former Pitt Panther football players that became NFL stars
I don’t have this collection to sell Slider.
Only someone with limited knowledge would think that
Exactly where in your house are these collectables, Man?
And what days are you away from home over the festive season?
I have a buddy in Western PA who’s really curious 😉
The room was originally designed for a small bedroom however because I live alone, I transformed it into a memorabilia room.
I’m heading to Jacksonville Florida next week, to visit people I became friends with when I lived there prior to returning to Pittsburgh
Could there be any more proof that TheMan3 is some kind of Yinzer negativity bot when it/he/she openly tells the world where they’re gonna be for Xmas when asked by potential house burglars?
Considering I didn’t provide my full address or the municipality I live in, a potential robbery would be a waste of someone’s time and energy
I would be happy to send this curious friend of yours pics of my collection, though
Haha.
Who’s next, Richie Zisk?
Zisk was never the type of player that fans paid primarily to see play
Cutch’s mere presence puts paying fans in the stands
Not many guys actually warrant this kind of treatment. But Cutch is absolutely one of those guys. Class act. Any org would be lucky to have his presence back stage.
I remember in 2012 during a segment on MLB Network, Dan Plesac was asked who the best player was. He said Andrew McCutchen or Adam Dunn. Crazy how fast time flys
WE LOVE YOU CUTCH!
As a baseball fan, hope it happens for both sides.
Guy has been a great person, and very solid player his whole career, fitting he should be able to finish it in his teems where he wants
Once a franchise icon returns to the franchise late in his career, it feels wrong for him to finish his career with any other team. I also want to see him get to 300 home runs, ending on 299 would feel so unsatisfying.
Tim Salmon agrees!
While they don’t technically count, Postseason Home Runs count in my own book, and Salmon was able to get 4 of them, so he gets a pass from where I see it (although not an official pass by league standards).
McCutchen hasn’t have any Postseason Home Runs, so in my book there, I really want him to play at least 1 more year.
Vanderzim, I never thought of it that way haha. I actually feel a little better now about Salmon.
I understand why Postseason Home Runs are not counted in overall career stats, since a player in the Postseason gets more chances than a player who isn’t, but I do feel like those moments need to garner more career recognition in terms of overall stats, especially since those moments come in higher leverage situations than in the regular season, making it more impressive to see players such as David Freese, Eddie Rosario, and Howie Kendrick perform with more on the line than normal.
The fantastic off season continues. Add 1 at least probably 2 starters and it’s mission accomplished. Another 1b if Cutch can throw. Maybe a outfielder if he can’t.
They did just acquire Billy McKinney who can play 1B as well as the OF. While not a “sexy” acquisition it adds more depth to the roster
They need another starting pitcher, and the selection is becoming increasingly less likely.
Wacha is signing a 2 year deal with KC at a price this franchise would never agree to
@Dream – Cutch couldn’t throw when he was NL MVP… lol.
If he can play some corner outfield it would be very beneficial to the Buccos as a full time, non-field DH really limits flexibility with Davis maybe not being able to catch very well and Tellez’s poor D at 1st. You want those bats in the line up, but maybe not what they offer in the field every day.
I think the major holes are now the obvious need for two more starting pitchers and maybe a genuine everyday CF like Kiermaier or Michael A Taylor because Suwinski graded poorly there last season defensively and Bae doesn’t look like an MLB player from what we saw after May last season.
Cutch won a Gold Glove in 2012 but I agree with your assessment of both Bae and Sueinski’s defensive liabilities
Bae’s only real asset his speed, and despite Jack’s power numbers, they didn’t compensate for the 171 times he struck out.
Not to mention that neither can hit lefties with any consistency
Dude has a great career, one of the best players the Pirates have had, and that’s saying something considering how many great players have played for them. I’m glad he’s got a chance to hang them up as a Pirate. Shame he didn’t play his entire career there but at least he’s ending his career with the Pirates.
My Grandma loved baseball, and she loved Andrew McCutchen. In her later years she suffered from Alzheimer’s and forgot many things, including me. But she never forgot baseball or Andrew McCutchen. Her final years with us came in their 2013-2015 stretch and I was so grateful to be able to go and visit her every week and talk with her for hours about baseball. She thought I worked there sometimes, or just didn’t seem to care who I was at all. But I had years of memories that otherwise would not have existed if it wasn’t for baseball and Andrew McCutchen. I guess what I’m saying is baseball is so much more than a game, and Andrew McCutchen will always be my hero and I can’t wait to take my own sons now to cheer him on next year.
That’s beautiful, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for reading
My grandfather similarly loved the Bucs, and I’m convinced that watching Daniel Vogelbach bat in the leadoff spot killed him.
Nobody roots against him. That smile…
And the Eddie Murphy laugh.
And the Charlie Murphy Rick James stories.
His Instagram is hilarious.
Give him the same contract as last year and let him hit his 300th homer before riding off into the sunset at season end.
I’d honestly give him a little more as a sign of respect and appreciation. His value is probably closer to $7M per season, I’d skew more toward that number than the $5M he made last year. I’d offer him a player option for the following season at $5M, a team option at $6M and see if that could carry him into retirement.
According to Cutch himself, he offered to play last year for $5 million
It was also his phone call to Nutting that brought about his return to Pittsburgh
Cutch has never really been about making the most money he can. He by all accounts seems to be a genuinely honest and good person who presumably realizes that he has already made enough money to set up several future generations of his family very well. The first extension he signed for a little over 50 million was well below what he could have made if he waited to hit free agency. He’s probably gonna end up signing almost the same exact deal he basically wrote for himself and presented to Nutting/Cherington last winter.
yeah just sign him to a 1 year contract with 50 option years with no buy outs. no more messing around with contract details just pick up the option.
(sarcasm clearly)
I hope he can play well into his 40’s at a reasonable level take a couple years off and come back as a bench coach.
You joke but people with a straight face above you are saying teams should do this lol
hey it worked for boston and tim wakefield so not completely unheard of
E-Rod, Gray, Lugo, Flaherty are all the types of pitchers that should have been targets for the Pirates. With all those tier pitchers flying off the board, there’s no way the Pirates payroll will get that high, They already found their cheap 1B in Tellez, so Hoskins can be crossed off the board. The Pirates are gonna resign Hill and/or Veleszquez and punt another season away. This is Cherrington’s 5th year of the rebuild, the prospects he’s been accumulating are here. Now is the time to add to it and they’re taking the cheap way out.
How do you know they didn’t target them?
The Pirates are going to have to win again with mostly youngsters before free-agents are willing to sign. They tried to sign Kyle Gibson last season and even offered him more money and 2 years instead of one, but he CHOSE to sign with the Orioles. This goes all the way back to the last time they made the playoffs. They had to “overpay” for Russell Martin and Liriano to get them to come in free-agency.
The interest has to be mutual. My guess is that most or all of those guys wanted no part of the Pirates.
They’re being outbid by the Tigers and Royals. Enough said. But keep falling for the “oh we tried to sign these guys”.
And? What does that have to do with anything.
I’m not falling for anything, it’s just the truth in the case of Kyle Gibson. Do you have any proof that the Pirates didn’t target the players you mentioned?
Proof is in the results, or lack thereof. All this talk about being aggressive and raising payroll yet they’ve done nothing but the same old same old. If they manage to sign Montgomery or Bauer, I’ll eat my hat. But what have they done this offseason that makes you think otherwise?
“The results, or lack thereof” don’t prove anything. Teams miss out on players all the time.
They haven’t done anything to make me believe otherwise. I’m allowed to not have a stance once way or the other until the offseason is over lol.
Justin Turner recently said his favorite ballpark to both play in and be a part of is PNC Park
He went on to praise the city, the view of the city from the park and the restaurants in the region
I’d much rather have Turner over Connor Joe, but that’s not gonna happen.
I agree, ronnsnow. Connor Joe is too inconsistent and had a horrible average with runners in scoring position last year, yet they still put him in the cleanup or 5th in the batting order
They could technically end up with both Turner and Joe. If you sign Turner he platoons with Tellez at First Base and DH’s some when he’s not playing First Base, and Joe gets most of his playing time in the outfield (for Suwinski against lefties and filling in for injuries).
I think they’ll add one more bat now that Endy is out and Davis will mostly catch. I think they’ll also add two more starting pitchers.
Because the Pirates have money to spend and still do so little! Try to improve!
Tellez, Gonzalez, Cutch! All are old or have been bad enough to be a Pirate! Same thing every season! Just wait until the good free agents are gone then pretend you were in on some!
Cherington is on the hot seat according to the Post Gazette sports writer
It’s a make or break season for both him and Shelton
Sports writers in general have low intelligence. Pittsburgh even more so.
98% of the Pittsburgh sports media has embraced pure mushroom management of the fans.
They stand in a forest full of trees and vehemently insist that there is only one tree and if not for (insert whipping boy of the moment) we’d be the City of Champions again.
Actually they make a valid argument. This is year 4 of their collective regime and both are in the last year of their contracts
If the team regresses I imagine both will be gone for 2025
This is year 5, not 4. Also, we have no idea how long Shelton’s extension was. so idk where you’re getting this is the last year of his deal.
Sheltona and his players got awfully emotional for just a 1 year extension.
I would characterize it as more apt to engage in intentionally sparking outrage than many other cities. IMO, many of the usual suspects just enjoy saying ridiculous things for the sake of building audience. There are a few untouchables (criticizing Cutch and Sid, or any past icon), but the willingness to openly incite fan anger is higher here than a lot of other places.
And it makes sense too: we all know who Steven A. Smith, Rachel Maddow, and Sean Hannity are – they are paid handsomely to defend extreme points of view – people seldom go to media anymore to actually learn anything and the media is all too willing to accommodate.
Media takes full advantage of low intelligence audience for sure.
I got this information from when it was announced last year that Shelton was given a one year extension
correction
Fox news commentators take full advantage of low intelligent audiences
I would guess every channel tries to take advantage of their low intelligence audience and that the intelligence level of each audience is similar. They are getting their news from cable tv and most of them are paying to do so. They aren’t smart that’s for sure.
IMO the fox viewers would be smarter because IMO they have better talent. If I have to choose between bad movies I will go with the one with the better actors. But I would guess most watch just because they have similar political positions. The smarter ones mostly left when they fired Tucker would be my guess.
Ben hasn’t played with his ‘own’ team yet. He should get ’24 and ’25 to show what he’s got.
Even if I think they’re a bad team right now.. they did improve their record a good amount with the best record since 2018.
The PG is likely full of it unless he did something out side of baseball that got under the owners skin.
I had/have little faith in Ben to win with a rebuilding team. But I like him better than NH. Ben’s big winning seasons had to do more with payroll on the right players than it did with younger players.
Cherington is practically a lab created perfect gm to work under Bob Nutting. He keeps his work pretty secretive so there isn’t any major bad publicity other than the usual low payroll tropes, he adds just enough to the MLB roster each year to be able to say or show that there is a plan or desire to compete however misguided it may be and he has gradually built up the farm system so that with any luck there will actually be a competitive team in the near future which will create bigger revenue streams. Cherington’s job is as safe as can be right now.
Flaherty shouldn’t be the target of anyone. Other 3 were in high demand. Outbidding every other team isn’t a great strategy.
Tellez Gonzales were fantastic additions that I fully supported.
Depending on medicals I would want VV back on the cheap.
Hill is fine as the last resort. Perez Ryu would be of more interest. Trade for years of control even better.
I mean if you’re going for 76 wins again, sure they’re great additions.
When you already lost your 2nd best pitcher, starting catcher, and have little to no idea what Cruz will be…. Probably not the time to go heavy or all in. My philosophy and I believe Pirates share it, is pass on full market value free agents and take care of your own home grown talent with team friendly extensions. Fans would rather root for someone they have followed since a 19 20 year old prospect than a 30 something hired mercenary.
So you’re saying they shouldn’t improve the team because two players are injured? Bruh, just say you’re okay with 75 wins and be done with it,
Am I fine with 75 wins in 2024? I don’t care about 2024 at all. I am looking 3 5 10 years ahead. I look at the big picture.
If they are a 75 win team then you just supported not going after those names. They would need to sign all 4 to have a chance at the playoffs and that isn’t realistic. Would take 2 of them to just get to 500. Would also make it difficult to extend Keller Cruz whoever. They can probably afford 120m payroll but with Nutting I will go with 100m until he proves other wise.
That’s just a lame excuse, injuries happen to every team every year
But you do your best to make the team better regardless of the situation
If management is going to use the excuse for not being competitive due to injuries, they should finish another line of work
Every year it’s always about next year, the problem is that next year never arrives
Forget Flaherty, the selection of decent pitchers are dwindling
The real problem is the limitations of what this team wants to spend
Agree 100%. Anyone who really wants Flaherty ought to look up his recent history on and off the field – he is not the type of guy who’s going to be a fan favorite in Pittsburgh, not to mention his utter suckitude last year. He’s as lost as Roansy, but with the added bonus of off-field baggage and being older.
Lugo was definitely overpaid to go to KC, really the same with Gray in STL. Especially in Gray’s case, his numbers could justify a one-year deal at the rate he was given, but $25M AAV for 3 years is a bit of reach for a guy who is 34 with a somewhat spotty injury history. E-Rod is the only one out of the bunch who might have been worth an offer, and I suspect they did call him. If the offers were roughly equal, either a few dollars up or down, it’s hard to fault him for choosing the NL champs versus a team who might contend in 2024 or 2025.
At this point, I feel like Frankie Montas and Eric Lauer would be my top targets for some back-of-the-rotation arms/depth if I were the GM; I’d get ballpark figures from Manaea, Gioloto and Woodruff – then see what could reasonably get done. Lauer and Montas are not far removed from being above average; I’d offer combinations of team options/opt-outs with a fairly valued contract + incentives. For either guy, $6-8M for next year ought to be within reason, so they’d only need sweeten the pot a little to beat out competitors. Lauer has undoubtedly gotten a call from Cleveland (his hometown) and Montas has talked to the Yankees, but I don’t view either as stiff enough competition to take the Pirates out of the picture.
Seems like one of Montas or Manaea are gonna end up on the Pirates. They’re in that middle ground of having had some past success but with enough current warts or concerns to fit perfectly in the Pirates price range either or a one year prove it deal or a lower AAV 3 year deal just to get the most guaranteed money they can now.
Man it’s ok to have expectations! You like them signings then you’re just happy to have a team
My best friend and I are Cub fans, and we have identified the guys who have been Cub killers.
McCutchen is on that list along with Pujols, Molina, Votto, Braun, etc.
I always liked McCutchen and wish he would have been a Cub during his career. McCutchen to Prates fan is like Williams, Santo, Banks to Cub fans. A team icon. He’s still able to do it, and he wants to end his career where it started. Good for him.
The Pirates would 100% say Ian Happ (a hometown guy no less) is the Cubs’ major Pirate-killer. I asked Rob Zastryzny to plunk him for the sake of Pittsburgh (he refused as Happ is a good friend of his); Colin Holderman overheard me and wanted props for getting him earlier in the series. (Holderman is an awesome dude; he was kidding around for my kids’ sake – there was no way it was intentional.)
I appreciate the respect for a player on another team – I always loved going to see the Cubs play in Pittsburgh because I loved watching Sandberg, Mark Grace and Andre Dawson play as a kid (Grace in particular, he is one of my favorite non-Pirate players ever.)
The picture on the article is great. The only problem is I went to the airport and asked for a ticket to PGH and they told me it didn’t exist. Oh well.
huh?
I love Cutch but the goal is to improve! Cutch, Tellez, and Gonzalez aren’t improving!
Go after talent and stop dumpster diving!
He’s perfectly fine for a fourth outfielder and worth whatever discount he signs for.
He’s going to DH and won’t be counted on to Field much if at all!
I hear “dumpster diving” a lot, I’m curious to understand what your definition of that is.
Is it dumpster diving to pick up a 24-year-old who was once a highly-touted prospect, got untracked by an injury then ended up blocked instead of signing a 33-year-old guy who is asking to be paid on what they did 2 or 3 seasons ago (and a less stellar recent track record)?
Is it dumpster diving to believe in your scouting department, when they say that they’ve identified something in a guy that will take him to another level – at a price that allows you to continue to add depth?
Players have all sorts of reasons for flaming out with an organization. Some are blocked and haven’t gotten an opportunity (Seth Beer); others were oft-injured or lacked the maturity to develop; some just plain stink – but all were identified by a major league scout as someone who potentially has the ability to compete in the MLB.
The demand for players who have the ability to play professional baseball is higher than the supply, absolutely no team (including the Braves) is deep enough within their system to go 2 or 3 deep beyond their 40-man roster at a specific position. That’s why EVERY SINGLE MLB TEAM makes waiver claims and signs players to minor league contracts with an invite to camp.
When you always sign a guy approaching 40 or a guy who completely falls off then yes you just going through the trash that nobody else wants! Sometimes you hit but if you think you’re close to competing then (Naylor, Wacha, Flaherty, Giolito, etc) go after someone who is expected to produce!
Pirates are being hamstrung w roster space. They have 4 players that are on IL.
True, I don’t think they can move Endy or Oviedo to the 60-day until spring training. On the “glass half full” side, that’s 2 roster spots (probably 3 based on Brubaker’s timeline) that the Pirates have when other teams are having to make decisions on controllable “out of options” players. In particular, it’s a good way to add pitching depth as arms are made of glass these days.
This needs to happen. McCutchen in Pittsburgh just feels right and he should hit his 300th Home Run as a Pirate. At this point he’s not asking for big money so there is no reason this shouldn’t get done
Is Andrew going to agree only if he is given veto power over future Pirates personnel decisions like the aging shady sellout phony b***h ohtani has with the Dodgers?
@mlajamise
Bring back the player-manager.
I am probably not alone in hoping this blows up in the Dodgers face in the most spectacular and franchise-damaging way possible.
I expect a couple world series parades for Dodgers fans while Ohtani is there but there’s little chance they can stay at the top of league when they’re paying Ohtani and Betts over 70 million combined for the next decade after both are gone. It’s pretty much the biggest “all in” type of move in pro sports history and those kinds of moves always have future repercussions.
Reunited and it feeels so goooood. Reunited ’cause we understooood.
The front office is using Cutch to cover their incompetence by not wanting to go out and spend a reasonable amount of money to decent free agents like other small market teams such as the royals or reds are. Where is all of this money saved the past 4 years ? Sign some Decent starting pitching.
Nice that Cutch appears to be coming back.
Need a more meaningful reunion to compete.
How about someone like Mustgrove?
Honestly with the Padres in full on payroll slashing mode and Musgrove’s extension being relatively team friendly that’s not a bad idea at all. Just depends on the prospect capital San Diego would ask since Musgrove probably has a ton of trade value right now.
Hey Astros, he’s better than your in-house options! Give him 2/24.
How is it a reunion if he came back to you last year before 2023? All he’s doing is resigning with the bucs for 2024
Should not sign him. Use money elsewhere. Bring him on as a coach if you want. Won’t have a year like last year