Don’t Take Your Andrew McCutchen Jersey to Goodwill Just Yet

Want to make a splash heading into the MLB Winter Meetings?

Toss out a rumor like the one Keith Law tweeted about the Pirates listening to offers on All-Star Andrew McCutchen and the Pirates faithful lose their minds.  We are also pretty sure Neal Huntington is going to hear about this one next week from his fellow GM’s at the Dallas Hilton.

The rumor was quickly crushed by Dejan who put this together at the Trib site.

Guess what?   We were going to write about Derrek Lee taking as much time as possible to shop his Pirates arb offer around every other club in MLB. We thought we could create a hysteria about a hostage type situation.   The Pirates are strapped to Lee as the first baseman does his damndest to find a better offer for his services before Bob Nutting’s 1950’s era Timex strikes midnight on December 7.

Well enough with that shit,  who needs to make up bullshit when a juicy rumor like this one gets dropped at dinner time?

A little history on the two main reporters on this—- Dejan and Keith Law both enjoy twitter. Remember this jab Law sent his way during the season?

Here’s our take on this non-story: It would take a boatload of talent to pry Andrew McCutchen out of Pittsburgh. Until there is actual smoke around this bullshit rumor, we are going to head back inside where it’s warm.

Look, McCutchen hasn’t even reached peak value.  The Pirates control him at an insanely low rate of pay.  The Pirates are in the driver’s seat on this deal.  They don’t have to pay Cutch shit.  He needs to keep playing well to land a big payday.  The Bucs say a payday won’t come unless he gives up a free agent year or two.

Sorry Cutch, your leverage sucks as bad as your baserunning in this argument.  Whether the rumor is true or not, it makes sense for Huntington to check out the perceived value for his star.  It’s similar to what Kevin Towers did last season with Upton.  Without a new contract in hand, McCutchen has a league minimum year in one of the remaining four years of Pirates control.

It’s hard to imagine Cutch going anywhere soon.  It would be very hard for a team to put together an attractive enough package to land the Pirates outfielder.  But if the Pirates don’t at least listen to what is out there, they would be incredibly foolish.

And check this out.  If all goes well for Starling Marte in 2012, which is not typical for a Pirates prospect, the Bucs just might be able to see how good Marte looks at PNC Park before 2012 ends.  It all might happen right in front of McCutchen’s eyes too.

If the Bucs keep up this pace, 2012 has all the ingredients for a really interesting season, and it’s not even December yet.