The Giants have placed outfielder Andrew McCutchen on revocable trade waivers, Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic reports on Twitter. Those in need of a refresher on how dealmaking works during the month of August should follow this link.
In terms of timing, it’s not entirely clear exactly when McCutchen hit the waiver wire. If the placement occurred today, though, then other clubs will have until Wednesday to place claims. From there, the way things proceed will depend upon whether or not the veteran outfielder is claimed.
While we’ll need to wait on the details, a deal of some kind seems rather likely, as Baggarly notes. The Giants are now eight games out of the division lead with three teams ahead of them and not in much better shape in the Wild Card chase.
Some may wonder whether the Giants would prefer to keep McCutchen down the stretch, with designs on issuing him a qualifying offer at season’s end. But the QO ticket price is sure to land in the $18MM range, which seems like a steep rate for a player entering his age-32 season three years removed from elite offensive production.
Indeed, it’s at least questionable whether any organization will place a claim on Cutch, who’ll cost around $3MM for the rest of the season before hitting free agency. The Giants, presumably, will be willing to allow him to walk if a claim is made — or, if not, for a rather reasonable price that mostly involves cost savings.
None of that is to say that McCutchen is without appeal. He’s slashing .257/.354/.417 on the year, with 14 home runs in 528 plate appearances. That’s a far cry from his former output, but still good enough for a 114 wRC+. McCutchen sports a career-low .160 isolated slugging mark, and his baserunning grades have joined his defensive reputation in decline, but he can still draw a walk (12.1% BB rate) and actually carries a career-high 45.3% hard-hit rate. Indeed, Statcast numbers indicate he has underperformed the quality of contact he has made (.337 wOBA vs. .366 xwOBA).
It’s certainly possible, then, that a contender in search of a quality righty outfield bat (and highly respected veteran) will gladly take over McCutchen’s salary, if not also give up at least something of a return to the Giants. The National League clubs will get the first crack on the waiver wire. Teams that believe McCutchen has another gear left to reach may well jump on the opportunity, as it’s still not clear that any better options will come available.
Yankees should get him. Clint Frazier sucks
Lol a guy who has played in the Majors sucks ?
How many AB’s has Frazier had?
Frazier should have been traded for pitching. I’m not a fan of Frazier nor is there room for Frazier.
If healthy he certainly would be light years better than their current alternatives.
He doesn’t have the trade value you think he has
Clint Frazier is the heir apparent to Gardner.
Lol yeah Clint is the problem. The same Clint that has been injured all season. Yeah, it’s all his fault
cool
Great add if Indians can get him
Short lived season in sf but I respected cutch’s Time in giants uni, I could easily see why when playing at all star levels he was an easy fan favorite… lots of emotion, love for the game, and Well respected hopefully u go to a contender with a real shot best wishes!
Well said Stu. Cutch had a short but relatively sweet run in the giants uniform. He earned the respect Giants’ fans have for him. If he goes, hope Cutch goes to a contender that goes deep into October.
Yeah, I wish him well and I hope he goes to a team with a good chance at a World Series ring.
For some reason I keep getting pop up ad’s on the on this article, but none of the others. Never had one come up in the years I’ve been using the app, and I don’t really care that one has, but I just wanted to point it out.
And now I’m being overwhelmed by them on every article.
Yankees could really use him, Shane Robinson is not cutting it. Don’t know if he would make it that far unclaimed though, or if the Yankees have the room left under the tax threshold.
Idk if he lasts til the Yankees in the waiver order. He probably gets claimed by somebody before the Yankees have the chance. San Fran really bombed the deadline. Could have traded him to the Yankees on July 31st but they still thought they were in it and now will settle for peanuts or have him leave on waivers for nothing
Now the Giants can retire Will Clark’s 22 when cutch is gone.
They only retire hall of fame numbers. Bonds was an exception.
They only retire hall of fame numbers and those that cheat the game with that state of the art flaxseed oil.
Barry Bonds is one of the greatest baseball players ever. MVP awards, Gold Glover awards, etc. He had exceptional talent in all aspects of the game.
Eventually, Bonds took roids just like everybody else did. Roid pitchers throwing to roid batters. MLB did nothing to prevent this and so it ran rampant. Don’t blame the players for doing what everyone else was doing.
Barry Bonds just wasn’t clean enough to make a claim as one of the best ever, we can’t excuse a grown man for cheating just because others did. And Bonds wasn’t facing roided pitchers every time, that’s silly. MLB did not force these players to endanger their future health, so that argument fails as well. The players weren’t five year old children, they knew taking these chemicals could be dangerous in the long run, and their reputations could be ruined.
Half the guys in the hall of fame were popping uppers all the time. Let’s not pretend those aren’t PED’s.
Joey Pankake went 0-8 during South Carolina’s two losses against Arizona in the 2012 College World Series final.
That’s a fact.
Serious question: Would the consumption of energy drinks be considered “gaining an edge”?
That my friend deserves 100 upvotes…
Agreed
Guess Joey was sent the wrong memo…stating that downers were the way to go (ergo 0 fer).
You are correct. Never blame the players for anything. Cheating is the American way, right? What are you, 11?
Bonds cheated. Period. He was an automatic Hall of Famer but that wasn’t enough. All of his “records” are a sham. Come on!
I don’t see him making it through waivers or making it to the Yankees
Well, at least he hit that walk off bomb against the Dodgers at the beginning of the season. Nothing but respect for McCutchen. The guy plays the game the right way. Best of luck wherever the future takes you.
He needs to be back in PITT where he’s happy at
Quite happy with Kyle Crick for the next half decade. Thanks.
Don’t remind me…
Many teams could use McCutchen. He’d be a nice shot in the arm.
Cubs. Schwarber, Almora and Happ are not doing good since the all star break. Move McCutchen to Center, Heyward in RF and Zobrist in LF, Schwarber backup Contreras. Happ backup middle infield and outfield
As mentioned above i think he’d be a good fit on the Yankees. If I have to see another OF with Shane Robinson I may lose it. Frazier’s injury is certainly unfortunate but leaves him unable to be counted on. McCutchen would be an improvement offensively over Gardner as well, whom despite all his Yankee grit has had his worst batting season in recent memory
Cutch would be a great piece especially with the questions lingering about Judge’s injury, not to mention Sanchez.
His value would have been much higher before the waiver deadline. Now they will be lucky to get a team’s 25th best prospect. Giants worry more about attendance than building a better team.
I hate to disappoint all the Yankee fans on here but the Indians are working on a deal for McCutchen and would be ahead of NY in the claiming order. If he makes it out of the NL, there is no way the Yankees have a shot at him.
Where did you see that about the Indians?
Brewers could use another third baseman
I’ll be shocked if SF trades him. Too many in the Giants’ camp clinging to the remote possibility that they not only have a shot at the post season but counting on one more even year miracle.