With the Pittsburgh Pirates slumping, is now the time to cash in with Andrew McCutchen? No!
Should the Pittsburgh Pirates trade Andrew McCutchen, the face of the franchise?
ESPN Insider’s Scott Spratt makes the case for trading the perennial All-Star, but the short answer is no.
At 29, McCutchen is having an off year for him. He still leads the team with 10 home runs along with 70 strikeouts. For someone who has been a top-five vote getter in the National League MVP voting the last four years, his 50-point drop in batting average and 82-point plunge in on-base percentage is concerning. Trading him away, however, is another story.
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Injuries to pitcher Gerrit Cole and catcher Francisco Cervelli have hurt the Pirates. After a 27-22 start through May, Pittsburgh is a .500 team after dropping 11 of their last 15. Twelve games behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central, they will need an absolute collapse at Wrigley Field to catch them. Under the old one Wild Card system, 2016 would be considered a lost season.
If Pittsburgh rebuilds, McCutchen is the one player who could bring back a prospect haul worthy of his value. If the Pirates are considering throwing in the towel, the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox will gladly raid the farm to grab one of the game’s best players with many teams willing to kick the tires.
For Pirate fans, there is a silver lining. Under the two Wild Card system, they sit 2.5 games behind the injury-filled New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals. One good weekend at Busch Stadium puts them back in control of their own destiny. Every team goes through slumps. With a bad June, the Pirates know the law of averages will go the other way. At the moment 87 wins gets you a playoff berth, the .538 Cards winning percentage times 162. If Pittsburgh finishes the year on a 54-42 pace, that gets you to 87. Wild Card’s the last two years and a 98-win team in 2015, that is doable.
Two other factors make trading McCutchen unlikely. He is signed to a team friendly $17 million per year contract through next season and he is undeniably the biggest star not named Ben Roethlisberger or Sidney Crosby in the city. No matter who the Pirates got back, the fan reaction would be horrible. This is not like the Colorado Rockies when they were saddled with Troy Tulowitzki’s deal or if the Minnesota Twins need to move Joe Mauer to make payroll. With baseball’s renaissance in the Three Rivers City, dumping McCutchen tells both fans and players this is a lost cause.
It is not, at least right now.
If we get into next year and the Pirates are on the wrong side of .500, then you might justify a deal. McCutchen could demand the moon, stars and the Heinz Ketchup factory, and that might be too much for Pittsburgh to swallow.
That is next year. This year is not a lost cause. Sure, any player can be traded and list of demands are thought about even if someone asks about Mike Trout. No player is untouchable.
Next: Nats' Trea Turner a Trade Chip?
McCutchen is on the short list of those who should be.