The Brewers are in talks with free agent outfielder Andrew McCutchen, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Brewers’ outfield is generally set with Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain, Hunter Renfroe, and Tyrone Taylor, but Cutch could certainly supplement that mix and spend time at designated hitter.
McCutchen, 35, posted a 107 wRC+ in 574 plate appearances with the Phillies last year. A right-handed hitter, McCutchen has been particularly strong against southpaws, with a 154 wRC+ dating back to 2017.
Upon getting fourth place in the 2009 NL Rookie of the Year voting, McCutchen established himself as the face of the Pirates and once of the best players in baseball. From 2011-15, McCutchen ranked second in baseball among position players in WAR, making five straight All-Star teams, winning the 2013 NL MVP, and garnering top-five MVP votes in three other seasons.
In January 2018, with free agency on the horizon, the Pirates traded McCutchen to the Giants for Bryan Reynolds, Kyle Crick, and international bonus pool money. The Giants later shipped McCutchen to the Yankees at the August waiver trade deadline. McCutchen signed a three-year, $50MM free agent deal with the Phillies in the offseason. Off to a strong start in his young Phillies career, McCutchen tore his ACL in June of 2019 and missed the remainder of the season.
McCutchen hit .222/.334/.444 in 574 plate appearances for the Phillies in 2021, spending all of his time in left field. After the season, the Phillies declined his $15MM club option in favor of a $3MM buyout. An everyday center fielder in Pittsburgh, McCutchen has become a below-average defensive left fielder with age, according to Statcast. Given the advent of the NL DH, McCutchen could complement Milwaukee’s offense if they close a deal.
Brewers are offensively challenged. I see Cutch as a good fit in Milwaukee with whatever he has left in the tank.
This dude has burned us so many times when he was with Pittsburg. It’ll be nice to have him on our side. (Assuming we get him cheap and not many years.). Likely someone is gonna get hurt during the year, so no harm having some depth.
It can only benefit both parties. Brewers offense was anemic last year but they do play in a hitter friendly park, slide cutch as the dh and play him in some of the of
Excellent option against LHP.
So is Tyrone Taylor
I didn’t realize that the Brewers were forced, by rule, to only start one of Andrew McCutchen or Tyrone Taylor…
They can now have two excellent hitters vs. LHP.
Three, if you include Renfroe.
He had some nice stretches at the plate last year. He can’t field anymore, but he’s a nice bat and absolutely fantastic personality.
Stearns and his bargain hunting.
He basically has too, he’s running a small market team
Emotional damage
Feel like Cutch has been a guy whose needed to get regular ab’s as a DH for a couple years now. Think he could have quite a bit left in the tank if he’s kept off his feet more often than not.
Odd picture choice
Who tf is that in the pic lmao
Why do they post a pic of Ronald Torreyes on a ‘Cutch article, lol
I’m going say no don’t do it. I like McCutchen but why sign a guy when we already have guys capable to do that
Cutch may not be the Cutch of old, but the guy can still play. Brewers make a lot of sense.
WOOOF
Meow
I would’ve thought he’d have ‘Rays’ written all over him. Affordable veteran bat. Plus he grew up 90 minutes east of the Trop.
Can’t say enough about what a good guy, leader and community hero Cutch was here in Pittsburgh. While I wish he could finish his career back here, who can blame him for wanting to play for a contender. Still has something left in the tank and hope he helps the Brewers, if that’s where he ends up
They must thing the 35 year old Cutch is better than anything in their system.
The Brewers upper minors is rather thin. They don’t have anybody that can step in and perform near what McCutchen can do even if he can basically only hit lefties at this point in his career.
Actually thought for sure he would return to Pittsburgh he’ll sell tickets for 2 years
Pipe dream, would love to see andrew back in Pittsburgh as DH 4th OF, Hopefully long enough to finish his career here.
Face it, he isn’t going to get a 10$m/year contract. A 2 year 10M contract with 3 options at a similar rate to keep him till 40. with a 2/1/1m buy out to guarantee him 14m and more time with his family (last i knew they still lived in Pittsburgh).. would be nice for him. BUT he also probably wants a team playoff bound for the WS chance. if a contender offers him less, he will probably take it. I probably would…. unless it was the Brewers lol 😉
The PR would be amazing in itself. If he can still post a 100 OPS+ and not kill us on defense when out there he would also be an offensive upgrade.
I doubt it though, but maybe Bob will push the issue as he wanted to keep him long term before the trade.
The Cardinals are better than the Brewers…Prove me wrong
why does anyone expect the Cards to be better than last year?
Health…Flaherty for one…he was hurt for most of the season and when he did come back he wasn’t that affective…he was 6-0 before he got hurt…Mikolas looked good at the end of the year when he finally got healthy…Hudson was out till the end of the year after TJ surgery…he looked good in his short stint…signed Matz…that is the big reason…I understand injuries happen to all teams but when your rotation is decimated after the first two months it’s makes sense that it was a big deal…Flaherty is looking for the big contract and hopefully stays healthy…Having Hudson back is huge…Matz just needs to throw strikes behind the best defense in the MLB…If wainwright can come close to what he did last year that should be good enough…Mikolas is a question mark but if healthy a good #3…for the better part of the season The Cardinals rotation was a triple A rotation at best…it’s silly to think they won’t be not only better but way better
Put down the pipe. You can dream about how good your rotation could be, but it will never be better than the Brewers rotation.
If there’s anything you have a slight edge on, it’s offense…and your best three hitters aren’t getting any younger.
Well, first thing, I never said it was better than the Brewers…I get the Brewers have a better Rotation…I think the Cardinals have a better overall bullpen but obviously the Brewers have the best bullpen arm in the MLB in Hader…the offense is obviously better yes…but are you honestly going to try and say the Brewers have a better defense than the Cardinals? yes, Goldy is getting older but I think the DH is going to help that..Arenado is what 31…but O’Neill and Carlson are very young so I don’t get your point there? Plus the Cardinals have Gorman and Walker coming up to replace them…I’m not to familiar with the Brewers farm but I don’t think they have a lot coming up that are close to helping…maybe I’m wrong about that…so yea the Cardinals rotation isn’t as good as the Brewers but like I said it’s still a good rotation…so who is the better team?
Molina and Goldschmidt are both past their prime and its hard to expect the same production out of them. Arenado probably has a couple good years ahead of him.
As far as the Brewers offensively, Renfroe was a good power add from the right side which they needed big time. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Taylor have a better year with more playing time and I anticipate Corey Ray having his shot as well (first rd pick).
The Brewers bullpen is more than just Josh Hader. Devin Williams has one of the best pitches in the game. He’s way underrated and just as effective as Hader in late innings. Mid-relief has been good as well with Cousins, Boxberger and Suter…I’d put that collective group over almost all relief squads in the MLB.
Anything can happen…injuries, slumps, streaks…that’s all a part of the game. IMO, on paper with no injuries, the Brewers have the better team. With any projection, there are a lot of if’s, and’s and but’s.
Goldy had over 30 homers, OPS close to .900, and a .293 BA…so if that is regression I’ll take it …Molina is Molina…not worried about that…on Paper the cardinals are clearly better…not talked about is Dejong, I know people are down on him but let’s not forget that he had 19 homers last year and was recovering from a broken rib and had a tough time with his Covid…he might be the biggest surprise of all this year…the cardinals have the potential to have 5 position players hit over 20 homers and three of them with over 30…the second half cardinals of last year is what people should expect…when everyone was healthy…even Bader and O’Neill spent a good time on the IL in the first half…don’t get me wrong injuries happen…but clearly the cardinals have the better team on paper
Not the hitter the brewers need. I sure hope they pass on this guy.
The Crew already shot their wad and went all in long ago. The Crew will use the little remaining resources available to tinker around the edges. Excellent pitching. However, deep playoff runs now and in the future hinges on one player. If that player doesn’t regain his MVP level production they are spinning their wheels.
You can’t argue with them going all in with Yelich though…if Yelich can get back to form then it would be a hard argument that the cardinals are better…but if he doesn’t provide the offense he was supposed to…I don’t see them as the favorites for the NL Central…don’t get me wrong the Cardinals have to stay healthy…but if they can do that for the most part (of course injuries happen) they will be tough to beat
Rosario, Pham or Conforto, are not bank breaking players and can immediately impact the DH spot far better than Cutch.
$$$$ What gets and gives the Brewers best team roster fit for value. They’ve struggled vs Leftys. Counsell loves the platoon lineups. If you listed those players stats vs lefties alongside $$$ and commitment. Who is most bang for your buck? Add position flexibility. He would certainly play all 3 Of positions over 162games, besides just DH
Hopefully Brewers don’t sign him. I would rather see them go get Meadows with trading Houser or Small . They would be better off doing that . Make Feliciano available in the trade for Meadows too. Then maybe do a trade for Myers and Capsuano of the Padres for a low end prospect like Perez . I think this stuff keeps us getting better and we get better this year and years to come .
Why give up our starting pitching depth for Meadows when you can simply sign someone like McCutchen who put up very similar numbers last season?
Now I realize Meadows is just reaching is prime years and Cutch is past his and declining but again when you factor in the cost of acquiring each player McCutchen is the more logical choice.
Because I do believe that Meadows could even get better in Miller Park. It’s more of a hitters park and Adames even talks about how hard it is to see the ball in the Trop when hitting. I also think that Meadows is more versatile then McCutchen. Plus it gets someone of a couple years of control instead of having to do this every year. Also this may be the highest value of ever of Houser. Now yes I agree the down fall this could hurt us in the playoffs because I believe Houser can be very valuable coming out of the pen
I knew you’d circle back to Myers eventually!
I’m trying to be nice, or that guy from last night will call me obnoxious again..anyway, a lot of people (even more now than past years) think Myers is not good with the bat or in the field, and way overpaid. And aging. How can he be any help?
The only reason I said it is he and McCutchen are probably the same player but you pay a little extra more for getting Capsuano as your future catcher and Myers is only one year so it is like buying your future catcher.
I’m just busting on ya. He’s really just too expensive to make any sense to me. Maybe if the Pads eat a good chunk of his salary…
American Family Field
As a Brewers fan, I’m used to these dumpster diving signings by now. Some work out, some don’t. We’ll be seeing plenty more of these if the Yelich contract becomes an albatross.
Ugg, nthx. Rather give up a minor prospect for Voit if we want a RH DH.