Trading McCutchen would be mistake for Pirates
Social media and sports talk radio are cesspools of rumors and innuendo.
If you need any more proof of that, just look at the “report” from earlier this week that the Pirates engaged in trade talks with the Texas Rangers regarding Andrew McCutchen.
The initial report, by John Morosi of the MLB Network, first stated that McCutchen is enjoying a good season for the Pirates and the team will likely be sellers at the trade deadline.
A little while later, he “reported” the Rangers were a team to watch in terms of acquiring McCutchen.
Finally, he “reported” this: “Confirming: The Rangers have broached the possibility of acquiring Andrew McCutchen, but the Pirates are not prepared to move yet. The deal will have particular interest to the Rangers if at least one pitcher is part of the deal, as well.”
So, to get the timeline straight here, Morosi first opines that the Pirates might be sellers at the deadline. He then goes on to say that teams might be interested in acquiring McCutchen. Finally, he “confirms” that the Rangers contacted the Pirates about acquiring McCutchen, but were rebuffed.
He then adds that the Rangers would really like a pitcher in return, as well.
A “report” such as that would have never passed the muster of getting past an editor back in the newspaper days. But now? It’s all fair game.
Of course, sports talk radio ran with this all week. McCutchen was then forced to answer questions about it.
All because someone in the Rangers organization let Morosi know they were interested in McCutchen. Never mind the fact the Rangers were rebuffed.
The real report should have been that the Rangers were interested in McCutchen, but the Pirates weren’t interested.
Instead, the reporter opined first that the Pirates should want to deal McCutchen. Then, he opined the Rangers were a team to watch. Finally, he cut to the chase and came out and reported what had been leaked to him.
Never mind the fact the Pirates aren’t remotely interested in dealing McCutchen and shouldn’t be.
Earlier this season, general manager Ben Cherrington, for better or worse, said the Pirates were targeting 2024 as their season to return to competitive baseball. They knew that at the beginning of the season, when they signed McCutchen, and likely told him as much.
But he signed his one-year deal with the team because this was where he began his career and it was where he wanted to end it.
The Pirates already dealt with the PR fallout of trading McCutchen – one of the most popular players in team history – once. But at that point, it was the right move to make. They were heading for a rebuild and trading McCutchen allowed them to acquire, among other things, Bryan Reynolds.
Moving him again at this point would be folly.
Management brought him back to be a draw at the box office and a mentor to some of the team’s young players. He’s done well in both aspects.
And he’s already passed one career milestone in a Pirates uniform, getting his 2,000th hit earlier this season. He needs four home runs to get to another milestone, 300 for his career.
Simply dealing him away to get what, at this point, would be a middling prospect, would be silly, let alone giving up a pitcher in the trade.
The only way the Pirates should even consider that is if the Rangers are willing to give up one of their top two prospects, outfielder Evan Carter, who is currently in Class AA, or right-handed pitcher Owen White, who is in Class AAA. And even then, you only do it if McCutchen gives his OK to the trade. The Pirates owe him and their fans that much.
But if the Rangers are going to try to continue to negotiate through the media, then it muddies the water.
n All’s quiet in the NFL, meaning it’s the time of year for lists, most notably those that pick the top 100 players in the league.
Fans will get up in arms about this player or that player being left off the top-100 list. But realize, there are 1,696 players in the NFL at any given time. To be in the top 100, a player must be in the top 5.9 percent of the league.
That’s heady company.
n The Pittsburgh Maulers clinched a playoff spot in the USFL’s North Division last week. If you missed the hoopla over that in Pittsburgh it’s because the team isn’t really a Pittsburgh team.
The Maulers play their home games in Canton, Ohio. The only reason they’re called the Pittsburgh Maulers is because the Maulers were one of the franchises in the USFL’s first go-around back in the 1980s.
They might as well be named the New York Maulers. Or the Cleveland Maulers. Or the Los Angeles Maulers. It’s all equally as meaningful.