Pittsburgh Pirates: Andrew McCutchen a Target for the Yankees?

As many know there are rumors swirling that the Pittsburgh Pirates are going to listen on trade offers for Andrew McCutchen. Obviously, this is a big deal and almost every team in the league will have interest in the former MVP.

According to one New York sport website the New York Yankees have interest in acquiring the Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder. The website elitesportsny.com had an article talking about the potential fit. Christian Kouroupakis, the author of the article, believes that Yankees will be tempted to part with top prospects to acquire Cutch. Kouroupakis believes that it would take a package of a few top prospects to get the deal done on the Bronx Bomber’s side of things.

Kouroupakis wrote about some prospects that the Yankees would put in the deal:

"The Yankees have highly touted guys like Justus Sheffield, Domingo Acevedo, and James Kaprielian” — just to name a few. According to MLB Pipeline, these three are the top three pitching prospects and all are forecasted to maintain spots towards the top of the pitching staff in the future.Then, considering the fact that the Pirates have just one outfield prospect (Meadows) in their team’s top-10 ranking, they’ll probably require the services of Clint Frazier” href=”http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=frazie000cli&utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.outsidepitchmlb.com” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”>Clint Frazier, New York’s top prospect."

The Pitchers

On the pitching prospect side of things all three would be nice gets. Justus Sheffield was acquired in the Andrew Miller trade with the Cleveland Indians. He was a first round pick by the Indians in 2014 out of the University of Vanderbilt. The second pitcher of note is James Kaprielian. The former UCLA Bruin was a first round pick by the Yankees in the 2015 draft. Kaprielian was a pitcher that I really was hoping would fall to the Bucs in the 2105 draft, but was picked by the Yankees at #16. Like Sheffield, Kaprielian was a college pitcher. These two are advanced and could be MLB ready by next season.

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The last pitcher is Domingo Acevedo. He is by the far the most intriguing of all the prospects. The Dominican right-handed pitcher stands at 6’7” and weighs 190 pounds. This past season his fastball was clocked as high as 103 miles per hour. He has been used mainly as a starter in the Yankees system, but the 22-year-old could be a future star closer. This is why he would be so intriguing for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Bucs currently do not necessarily have a clear-cut future closer. Some may argue that Felipe Rivero could be that guy, even so acquiring an arm like Acevedo would give you a young, power, dynamic back up of the bullpen.

The Outfielder

The last piece would be Clint Frazier. While acquiring Frazier would be nice, it is not necessary. Frazier is one of the top outfield prospect in baseball. Ranking just behind former High School rival and current Pittsburgh Pirate top prospect Austin Meadows. With that being said, Frazier is as close to MLB ready as Meadows is. With Meadows ultimately replacing McCutchen in the outfield, and Polanco and Marte locked up long term, Frazier would have not starting spot. The only way it would make sense to acquire Frazier is if you looked to flip him in another deal, which would not be probable.

Kouroupakis puts Frazier in the deal as a knowledgeable Yankee writer. He most likely does not have a deep knowledge regarding the Pittsburgh Pirates system. However, what Kouroupakis is suggesting is that it would take a couple major prospects to acquire a player like McCutchen. By him suggesting Frazier, he is saying that Cutch could net multiple top prospects even with a down year.

Will it happen?

For years now it has been speculated that the New York Yankees would have interest in Andrew McCutchen. Many thought it would be when he reached free agency. The Pittsburgh Pirates would not be able to afford the perennial MVP candidate. Meanwhile the Yankees would be able to pay him whatever he asked as they usually do. However, now that the Pirates may look to deal the current center fielder, the Yanks could be looking to get him earlier than anticipated, at a cheaper rate.

Next: A Few Starters to Target

This is just a rumor with nothing official backing it up. However, with the official off-season looming it is fun to start speculating about potential fits and deals. Even if a deal is struck between the Yankees and Bucs it likely will be very different than what is being speculated. With that enjoy the rumors and ideas you read this off-season. However, do not hold your breath on many of them!

Also, comment below with thoughts!