Andrew McCutchen raking at Rangers camp should haunt Pirates fans

You know that old saying about not giving all-time greats any additional bulletin board material? It's often just not wise to give the best players in the world a reason to have a chip on their shoulder.

Well, the Pittsburgh Pirates clearly upset Andrew McCutchen to a severe degree, because he's on an absolute heater in spring training with the Texas Rangers.

Acknowledge the caveats surrounding spring training statistics all you want, there's no denying McCutchen is winding back the clock right now. He's only drawn 17 plate appearances with the Rangers, but the 39-year-old is hitting a ridiculous .583/.706/.833. Total up all his contributions, and you're looking at 1.539 OPS and 303 wRC+.

Those numbers sure would look good if he was on the Pirates, huh?

Andrew McCutchen's revenge tour off to brilliant start in spring training

Considering the Rangers got McCutchen on a minor-league deal, the early returns on their investment have been profitable to say the least.

Meanwhile, Cutch's direct replacement, Marcell Ozuna, isn't having himself a grand old time this spring. The 35-year-old newcomer did hit his first home run in a Pirates uniform over the weekend, but even factoring that in doesn't really make his bottom line look any better (.269/.321/.462, 101 wRC+).

There should be better days ahead for Ozuna — he owns a career 119 wRC+ and hit 79 home runs combined between 2023-24 — but he doesn't have the connection to the franchise or the community that McCutchen, a 2015 recipient of the Roberto Clemente Award, so obviously does.

Plus, Ozuna is running Pittsburgh $12 million on his one-year deal, making him a rather expensive designated hitter compared to McCutchen's $5 million salary last year. Considering the Bucs didn't re-sign Cutch because they were worried about further regression as he aged, this hasn't been the most glamorous start to 2026 for the new-look Pirates.

In terms of silver linings, at least this breakup wasn't the first one McCutchen and the team had. He split with originally them in 2018, entering the journeyman phase of his career while soaking up time with the Giants, Yankees, Phillies, and Brewers.

But his return in 2023 was supposed to be for life. He was never coming back to Pittsburgh to win another MVP award, but rather serve as the face of a rebuilding club. And now that the Pirates are finally ready to win again, it feels wrong for Cutch not to reap the fruits of his labor and see it through with the beginning of the next era of Buccos baseball.

Assuming he makes the Rangers' Opening Day roster, I fully expect to see little bit more of vintage Andrew McCutchen in 2026. And I certainly don't envy a Pirates team traveling on the road to face Cutch and the 2023 World Series champions from April 21-23.