Andrew McCutchen's return to Pirates seems even more likely after MLB Network analysis

It's almost 2025, and Andrew McCutchen is still a free agent. Pittsburgh Pirates fans are getting antsy, and understandably so; is there a chance that the fan favorite and living franchise legend could play his age-38 season in a city other than Pittsburgh?

As far as MLB.com insider Will Leitch is concerned, it's inconceivable to think that McCutchen would sign with any team other than the Pirates in 2025.

"He can't come back to Pittsburgh and then leave again," Leitch said on MLB Network. " I feel like he has to come back to Pittsburgh again."

Leitch's opinion is shared by the vast majority of Pirates fans, who remember when McCutchen was sent to the San Francisco Giants as part of the Bryan Reynolds trade in 2018 and watched him play for the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers before returning to Pittsburgh ahead of the 2023 season.

We are coming up on the one-year anniversary of Dec. 20, 2024, when the former MVP re-signed in Pittsburgh for an additional year after his original free-agent contract expired. He wants to come back, and the interest is evidently mutual; in theory, there shouldn't be anything stopping the Pirates from bringing McCutchen back on another team-friendly, one-year deal.

Andrew McCutchen's return to Pirates seems even more likely after MLB Network analysis

To be clear, this isn't just a feel-good story about McCutchen getting a storybook ending in Pittsburgh. Even at age 37, he was one of the Pirates' better hitters last season, tallying 20 home runs and 50 RBI while posting a .232/.328/.411 slash line in just 120 games as the team's designated hitter.

"That's a team that, for the record, he was one of their better hitters last year," Leitch said. "Obviously, he's not the MVP that he once was but he's still an above-average hitter. I think he's obviously not a center fielder anymore, but this is still a guy that you're not just bringing him in to be like a team leader. He still can hit. He's an above-average hitter."

Setting aside the fact that McCutchen's name has become synonymous with the Pirates franchise over the course of his career, it wouldn't behoove the Pirates to let one of the only above-average hitters from their below-average 2024 lineup walk in free agency when he's made it clear that he wants to come back. Hopefully, they get a deal done soon.

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