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Pittsburgh Pirates: Making the Case for an Andrew McCutchen Reunion
By Marty Leap
With the Pittsburgh Pirates in need of outfield help and one of the best players in franchise history available in free agency could a reunion make sense?
Baseball can be a romantic sport. Some times both the romantic move and the right move for an organization can be the same move. There could be a move this offseason that would fit both of these bills for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
In January 2018 the Pittsburgh Pirates made one of the most difficult trades in franchise history. This trade saw them send the face of the franchise, one of the best, most popular, and most important players in franchise history, Andrew McCutchen, to the San Francisco Giants.
From purely a baseball standpoint there is no denying that this trade has been a roaring success for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The main piece they received in exchange for McCutchen was outfielder Bryan Reynolds. Since coming to Pittsburgh the switch hitting Reynolds has become the new face of the Pirate franchise. He has been the far superior hitter to McCutchen, remains under team control through 2025, and is quickly becoming one of the more underrated superstars in all of baseball.
That said, emotionally, few Pirate fans, if any, have recovered from McCutchen being traded. To my generation of fan McCutchen was our Pops, our Cobra, our Great One, our Bonds, the superstar that was a MVP and led the Pirates to the postseason and being one of the best teams in baseball while in his prime. To older fans, Cutch reminded them of these days and helped lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to heights many of them thought they may never see again.
It has been nearly four years since McCutchen was traded. Since the day he was traded Pirate fans have dreamed of the day of a possible reunion. After all, it never seemed all that outlandish due to Cutch’s love for the city of Pittsburgh, he named his first son Steel after all, and his wife being from the area. Well, after the Philadelphia Phillies declined McCutchen’s option for the 2022 season on Wednesday, a possible reunion with the Pirates could be on the table. There are plenty of reasons as to why a McCutchen reunion makes sense and it is something that the Pirates should seriously consider this offseason.