The Pirates recently turned down a “nice offer of prospects” — which hailed from a “mystery team” — for outfielder Andrew McCutchen, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). While details are sparse, there is an important take-away: if they Bucs are to trade their long-time star, they’ll need players who are ready for the majors to do it.
It wasn’t long ago that a trade of McCutchen seemed rather likely, but things have changed quite a bit over the last week. In particular, several plausible suitors have filled their outfield vacancies by other means. As GM Neal Huntington acknowledged as the Winter Meetings drew to a close, a deal probably won’t occur — at least this winter.
Still, it’s interesting to note both that other teams are continuing to inquire about McCutchen and that the Pirates are holding to their position. It was at least worth wondering whether the Bucs would relent on their approach at some point, but the organization still seems inclined to avoid sacrificing too much present value in considering a move on a player who has long been the face of the franchise — despite the uncertainty in his outlook created by a sub-standard 2016 season.
Pittsburgh has recently sought to balance present and future needs in several transactions. The deadline deal for pending free agent Mark Melancon brought in a young MLB fireballer in Felipe Rivero. Sending Francisco Liriano’s contract to the Blue Jays came at the cost of prospect capital but left payroll flexibility. The David Freese extension kept a sturdy veteran in the fold at a palatable commitment, as did the new deal for catcher Francisco Cervelli.
That Freese swap is particularly interesting now given the ongoing uncertainty over third baseman Jung Ho Kang, who was recently arrested in his native Korea for an ugly DUI incident. It’s unclear at this point what kind of impact that may have on his availability for the coming season, but it elevates Freese’s importance and perhaps leaves some added need at the major league level. (Of course, the team can still deploy players such as Freese, John Jaso, and Josh Bell at the infield corners.) Perhaps, too, it will have some impact on the organization’s reported interest in considering deals for infielder Josh Harrison, who’d also be capable of playing third.
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While there are other options, the Bucs would presumably have some interest in adding to their infield mix in any deal involving McCutchen. In addition to the questions noted above, shortstop Jordy Mercer isn’t a top option at his position. There are a variety of names in the pipeline, but the organization hasn’t yet seen fit to rely on any at the major league level. An even greater priority, perhaps, would be adding to a youthful rotation mix that features a good deal of talent, but relatively little in the way of established, major league performers.
A variety of organizations could still make some sense as pursuers of McCutchen — the Dodgers, Blue Jays, Orioles, Indians, Mariners, and Giants all come to mind — but it’s not clear whether any would part with the kinds of pieces that would hold appeal to the Pirates. Of course, even if Pittsburgh holds McCutchen this winter, it could still weigh a deal at the 2017 trade deadline. If he has returned to form but the team isn’t firmly in contention, a prospect-focused swap could make greater sense — particularly if Pirates farmhand Austin Meadows has proven himself ready for his first look at the big leagues.
Good job Pittsburgh! Keep your best and player!
They are. His name is Starling Marte.
*jordy mercer
Is this a joke? He had more stolen bases than RBIs at one point. Polanco was their best player last season.
Don’t know if i’d go that far to say a .258/.323/.463 is their best player He has the batting talent to be though,
IMO Marte is their best all round athlete by far..
of course last season…. no one did all that well.
On twitter they are saying it was the Dodgers and they were offering Puig top pitching prospect and urios
Yeah it was most definitely not that haha
I’m okay as a Dodger fan offering Urios. Just not Urias.
I’m a Giants fan but I wish I could like that comment
I’m not convinced that Urias will be a star. Honestly, I haven’t dissected his numbers or even watch him pitch all that much. But when I saw him in the playoffs I just didn’t see anything all that special. I’m not dogging him. I just don’t understand all the hype from what I’ve seen.
Well considering he is only 20 and had never been stretched out that far I’d say the playoffs weren’t truly representative of what he can do. He had four great innings and the bunt unraveled things. He had a 1.97 in the second half and has shown why he was so hyped if you watched long enough. You might want to wait until next year to make that determination.
The problem is that he only throws 90-92 mph otherwise I think he would be great.
Would a cutch and Josh Harrison package for Urias, alex wood and either yusniel diaz or galvin lux plus an A ball lottery ticket make sense?
No it wouldn’t.
As a Pirate fan Urias would be great. As a realist there is no way the Dodgers give him up for McCutchen. Harrison doesn’t add much value to the package.
No, but subbing DeLeon for Urias would
They are gonna get way more than one prospect a a reliever for cutch alone lol. I would not be surprised if they dealt Thompson Urias and Bellinger or verdugo for just cutch.
Well you’d be the only one because if Urias is off limits for a proven set of Aces stand to figure they aren’t parting with him for Cutch. It’s just not happening sorry.
Me too lol….
That would be an awful trade for the Dodgers. I’m sorry, but we don’t have a pressing need for Cutch. That kind of package would hurt us much more in the long run. Urias at this point is seen as a major league pitcher, and an effective one at that, not a prospect. Considering he had a very successful campaign last year at only 19-20 years old, and his ceiling, the Dodgers will not trade that away for anything. Much rather revisit the Braun trade involving Puig, McCarthy, plus prospects.
Braun isn’t happening with them re upping everybody which I’m ok with. 2b still seems priority as it should be.
Taking talent out of the equation that package doesn’t even fit Heyman’s description. He is saying they turned down prospects because they want MLB players or MLB ready players. Puig and Urias are both MLB players so not really prospects.
The Dodgers refused to move Urias when he hadn’t cracked the majors yet, and they desperately needed a starter like Hamels. Absolute refusal to every offer involving Urias.
They aren’t moving him now that he’s made it, for an outfielder coming off a down year.
Lmao
No way
Honestly so tired of people acting like Jordy Mercer is good. I think he is minimum Top 15 at his position. Yet Local and National media refer to him as trash it seems constant
That’s still better than half of the league (at a minimum at that)
He’s a good shortstop, I would personally prefer him over Jung-Ho
Let’s see here….career averages…Mercer .257/.313/.377, 90 OPS+, Kang .273/.355/.513, 128 OPS+. Neither walk a ton, neither strike out a lot, both on about average on D. but you want the guy with a far less imposing bat? Contract wise Kang will end up being cheaper for these next couple seasons too
Have you seen Kangs off the field problems though?
Mercer
Mercer is declining a little but still a solid option at ss. I believe he will start to cede time to Newman, maybe a little in late 17 and more in 2018. I expect Newman will be starting at ss by the time Jordy his free agency. I’d love for the Bucs to retain Mercer beyond that as a bench bat who can play ss/3b/2b but I assume he’ll be too expensive of an option at that point. He is one of my favorite Bucs.
Jordy Mercer epitomizes the word “serviceable”.
Kevin Newman is coming.
Bingo. Jordy’s an OK starter, it’s not the end of the world if he does start, and I can’t wait until they find someone better. It will not be Kang or Harrison because neither of them is good enough defensively at SS.
last year was the “bridge year”. I wonder If this is the other side year.
This is the “troll (under the bridge) year”.
Within a calendar year, they will be trading Cutch and Cole.
Blue Jays
Probably and we have no prospects so makes sense
Could be a good guess. Jays have good prospects but they are not close to MLB ready. Tellez is probably the closest but he is the future at 1B assuming EE is gone.
I’d ask the Jays for Stroman and TJ Zeuch. An arm now and an arm for the future.
Pirates would probably (likely) have to balance the deal a bit.
If we traded Stroman this offseason I think it almost forces the Jays to do an Atlanta Braves tear down, way to many holes to fill via free agency this year and next year.
Sanchez, Happ, Estrada, Liriano. Sign a free agent to be the #5 starter.
Not saying the Jays would or should trade Stroman, but they certainly could.
You have to look beyond this year, if we loose Stroman. We would have to fill 3 rotation spots next year, plus 2 OF right now, plus our bullpen. Our minor league system lacks MLB ready players, that’s too many spots to fill through free agency, plus Tulo and Donaldson would be entering their final year after that season.
I’m starting to think we’re doing a retool. Be competitive next year by signing ST cost conscious contracts, collect the picks build up the farm, when it doesn’t work next year, do a partial tear down, move JD, Tulo, Martin, etc and hold onto the kids
Fair enough.
I wonder if the Jays would do a deal with Happ and Zeuch and two other good prospects, even if they are A-ball guys.
Happ would help the Pirates now.
Agreed about Stroman. TOR can’t afford to move him because they don’t have the resources to replace a frontline starter AND fill the other holes. They need to roll the dice w. either what they have or add a bounce back candidate and hope it works.
Of course…I’d LOVE for them to trade NYM for Bruce…but I’m clearly biased as a Met fan wanting to sort out the current outfield.
Any ideas on the mystery team? I know our beat reporters said it wasn’t the Tigers but I think it might have been them.
Dodgers
The same Tigers who are interested in shedding salary and acquiring prospects, would be the team to send prospects to Pittsburgh for McCutchen?? Alrighty then
Well, I know it’s a bag of prospects, but we don’t know the exact deal, maybe the reason it didn’t go through is because we’re trying to dump a higher contract.
I’m just taking a guess here.
They’re not looking to “acquire prospects” necessarily… they just want to shed payroll. They’re trying to win the division this year. A few people on MLB Network were also speculating the Tigers going for McCutchen.
They are always looking to shed payroll but I don’t think that was really the point of making Mccutchen available. Meadows will replace him, but I don’t think they would trade without getting back a serviceable pitcher, even a solid #4 that was not near league minimum, in addition to prospects.
One of the talking heads on XM said it was the Cardinals – hence the Fowler signing. Never mentioned names. Huntington did this and they would have lynched him.
Lol I liked seeing the comments suggesting it was the Cardinals; they don’t have the prospects to get him, and they’re division rivals haha
With Fowler in the fold, and the two young pups in LF and RF (Grichuk and Piscotty), there’s absolutely *no* reason for the Cards to go after Cutch.
No Im referring to before they signed Fowler
Yeah, I doubt it was the Cardinals, I would have loved to have had Cutch on the Cardinals, but not for the asking price they were wanting.
One talking head disagrees with you.
Best guess would have to be Toronto. They have the need for an outfielder and they have some nice top prospects who are all at the lower levels (Urena, Reid-Foley, Alford and Vlad Jr.)
I agree
Jon Heyman is reachingggg. An anonymous source said a mystery team is willing to trade many unnamed prospects for Cutch? Yeah okay.
I wish someone had so much time on their hands that they kept a spreadsheet of every fake news article made by a baseball writer during hot stove season, and who had the most “hits” and “misses”.
There is simply no way to prevent Heyman – or anyone for that matter – for literally pulling these stories out of nowhere to “create content”.
That award would go to Nightengale every season of the year.
It’s wild to see the plague of “fake news” blowing up everywhere, when its existed in MLB offseasons for years now – especially after the 24 hour MLB Network started and needed stories to fill time in the offseason.
Just Another Fan: I get your point, but I doubt anyone can “literally pull stories out of nowhere”.
Literally, no. Figuratively, sure.
If anyone would do it..it would be Heyman. I do not respect him as a journalist.
If he could do that literally, he wouldn’t need to be a journalist. He could wow ’em in Vegas as a magician for big bucks.
Every team is willing to trade many unnamed prospects. Just not good ones!
The Pirates really should have moved Cutch. There is a decent chance that he doesn’t perform well enough in 2016 to get his 2018 option exercised. If that happens, the Pirates re holding on to an asset that is going to simply leave without returning anything. Even as a .500 team, they finish 20+ games out of first place. The chances of the Pirates competing for the NL Central again during Cutch’s tenure are nearly zero. Why not trade him for the prospects, and then get excess value from those prospects while developing them for the future, and possibly being in a much stronger position to contend for the NL Central in 2018 or 2019?
well considering the 2016 season has already happened….
I clearly meant 2017 and just mistyped. The overall argument remains unchanged. THe Pirates are not contending for the NL Central crown next season, making Cutch excess to requirements. Prospects in return for Cutch is better than they will get if they continue to wait and watch him depart via FA.
The pirates need an MLB version of hard knocks for 2017. The poop is gonna touch the apparatus with rotating blades that creates a current of air for cooling or ventilation. We need cameras.
i’d flip Cutch in a heart beat. He does not run anymore. play Meadows and get a haul for him. move on.
Bet it was the mets
I can see Sandy making a low-ball offer w. some farther away prospects. I’m against moving top talent for him and frankly PIT would regret moving Cutch for a sub-par package. I don’t think Cutch bounces back on Def and it’s a coinflip at the plate, but he’s the face of the franchise. PIT needs to be able to sell this move to their fanbase.
It was Kenny Williams using Rick Hahn’s phone.
Lol yes Chris March hilarious
Assuming the Pirates keep Cutch and cannot resign Ivan Nova, there are two reasonable trades the Pirates could make to give themselves a shot at contention.
Get Brett Lawrie from the White Sox. He can play 2B or 3B. Frees up Harrison to be the utility guy.
Get Drew Pomeranz from the Red Sox. Lefty to slot in as the #3 behind Cole and Taillon.
Neither of these players should cost premium prospects. I don’t know what Lawrie’s salary is, but Pomeranz is cheap. The Pirates like ’em cheap.
Hearing it was the Braves. They are wanting to move Markakis and a few others back to Baltimore for the reliever therefore the need of Cutch to go along with a new park. Mallex Smith was center of deal I believe which Atlanta is somewhat reluctant to deal him. So Atlanta offered a lesser package and the Buco’s rejected it.
I call BS on this. The piece literally said it contained no one who was ready for the bigs. Smith and Markakis are big leaguers.
Smith is 4th of and Markakis is going to oriole’s in a second trade genius. Completely separate. But braves needed to take care of this one first. If you read correctly instead of giving your .02
Dude, there has been NOTHING like this on the Braves’ end. They’re fine enough with Markakis in right as it stands, and there has been almost nothing connecting them to McCutchen, except some nutty fans who want it to happen. Either you heard from a horrible article, or you’re making it up, and my money’s on the latter.
Guessing you had Desmond to the Rockies aswell since they were m onnected the whole time
Connected*
The reliever that’s really good by the way can’t remember his name.
Tough situation for pirates. He has been all class over trade talks but most players/teams it forces trade since cloud over everything
He understands the business and I’m sure at least a part of him was grateful that they were asking top dollar for him. I still think they move him this offseason. Banking on trading him at the trade deadline is a risky proposition. And they WILL trade him at some point.
Had to be Oakland, who still have no CF and have quite a few nice prospects who aren’t ready – Grant Holmes, Richie Martin, Daulton Jefferies, Daniel Gossett etc etc.
in reality though, the conversation would probably have to begin with Franklin Barreto and/or Matt Chapman
2 top 50 prospects for 2 years of McCutchen? No, just no. They could get a superstar on a team-friendly deal for those two. That’s the future A’s left side of the infield right there, not to mention the parameter of “players offered not being ready yet” – both those two ETA’s are 2017. The guys I listed fall under the parameters and are all very solid prospects, Holmes is a top 100 guy.
I’m in no way of advocating a trade for either of them, I just can see the Pirates wanting to start the convo with either one since ideally they both are the verge of graduating to the big leagues…there’s a reason McCutchen is still out there, and it probably has to do with lofty demands…I would be livid to see either of them traded
Rangers for profar and an decent pitching prospect
nah this was the blue jays for sure, Reid foley + pompey or something.
Amazing how much rampant speculation here, over a non-sourced / alleged / maybe / “mystery team” tweeted rumor.
Did Heyman need some clicks? He sure got them here…..
Probably “off the record talks”
It sure has triggered the off-the-wall trade fantasies, which I assume was not the purpose of the article. But it doesn’t take much to get some Delta-Quadrant folks out of the woodwork….
Cutch and Josh Harrision to LA for DeLeon, McCarthy (or Kazmir) and Ethier (plus $~$12 mil-ish towards Ethier for ’17) would seem to satisfy both sides, right? What am I missing?
Not terrible, but the Pirates would need another good prospect.
I don’t see the Pirates taking on the salary of Kazmir or McCarthy.
It doesn’t look bad. I just don’t think it works. I think the Dodgers are looking for more power at 2nd. And McCutchen doesn’t profile well in RF at dodger stadium. The Pirates im also guessing would balk at paying 16M for Kaz. I’m also guessing Ethier doesn’t waive 10-5 knowing he’ll probably get shipped out mid season.
If Hutchinson is in fact holding out for major-league ready talent in exchange for Cutch, I as a Pirate fan have zero problem with this. They don’t “need” to trade McCutchen at this point, and they certainly don’t need to trade him for multiple players who can’t help now and may or may not pan out.
Exactly. I wouldn’t trade, and I’m guessing they won’t, unless the return included a decent SP, like a solid #4 or better, in addition to prospects
Mccutchen for profar/Tate?
Geoff Tate from Queensryche? Brandon Tate from the Bengals?