Two days after trading their top pitcher, the Pirates have sent their top player, the face of their franchise, to a National League contender.
The Pirates have traded Andrew McCutchen to the Giants in exchange for right-handed reliever Kyle Crick and Bryan Reynolds, a 22-year-old outfielder ranked by Baseball America as San Francisco's No. 5 prospect, and $500,000 in international bonus pool money. Additionally, the Pirates will pay a portion of McCutchen's $14.5 million salary.
This came after the trade of Gerrit Cole to the Astros, with the World Series champions sending back four players in return. Altogether, the Pirates did not acquire one Baseball America Top 100 prospect. The haul includes one potential backend-of-the-rotation starter, two relievers, a third baseman and two players who will be in the minor leagues in 2018.
Neal Huntington, addressing the media at a news conference Monday night, defended both moves, saying "informal conversations" with McCutchen indicated there was a "bridge" between the two sides that prevented a deal from getting done.
Also, Huntington said the front office's projections indicated the current core — including Cole and McCutchen — was unlikely to perform better than it did during the past two non-playoff seasons.
"Well, as Andrew and I have talked about, the reality is he had one year left in Pittsburgh under the best of circumstances," Huntington said. "As a result, with where we are on the win curve, the Gerrit Cole trade did not dramatically impact our potential to win the World Series this year. This trade does not dramatically impact our potential to win the World Series this year. ... As we work to return to the postseason, we recognize it takes a lot of really good players to be a good baseball team. We felt we needed to add some additional talent to this organization, those that are going to be here for multiple years, those that have ceilings, will continue to grow and develop."
McCutchen confirmed his move to the West Coast with this tweet thanking fans and expressing excitement for the move:
Pittsburgh.My Home.My Fans.My City. The placed that raised me and helped mold me into the man I am today. You will 4ever be in my heart.A tip of the cap to all who have been on this journey with me. With Love and respect,
Cutch pic.twitter.com/QB0n9vuBuZ
— andrew mccutchen (@TheCUTCH22) January 15, 2018
McCutchen, 31, is entering the final year of a six-year contract he signed in 2012. Crick, 25, will make the major league minimum after appearing in 30 games for the Giants this past season, and Reynolds, 22, will likely begin the season in Double-A Altoona.
Meanwhile, the Pirates lost this:
After acquiring four players from the defending World Series champions Saturday night, Huntington told reporters it was not a forgone conclusion that McCutchen and Josh Harrison would also be dealt. However, a significant rebuild has begun, as the player who led the Pirates' three-year return to playoff contention in 2013-15 is now also gone.
Bob Nutting, the Pirates' controlling owner, told reporters Monday night at PNC Park that trading both Cole and McCutchen was necessary to return the franchise to where it was in 2013, when there was a combination of youth and veterans on the roster.
"We need to remember what put us in playoff contention in 2013," Nutting said. "We had an infusion of young talent, young talent that played effectively, outperformed. We’ve done that before. We need to put ourselves in position to do that again. We’ve made some very tough decisions in '09, '10 and '11 to put ourselves in position in '13 to be able to play [in the playoffs]. There’s nothing easy about the decisions, but I do have faith in this leadership team to be able to make those decisions again."
Drafted 11th overall in 2005 by Dave Littlefield and Ed Creech, McCutchen batted .291/.379/.487 with 203 home runs and 725 RBI in his nine seasons with the club. He was named the National League MVP in 2013, leading the Pirates to the first of three consecutive playoff appearances.
Like the Cole trade, the Pirates' return for McCutchen has its question marks.
Crick was ranked the Giants’ top prospect by Baseball America in 2013 and 2014, viewed as a potential frontline starting pitcher in the majors. But he struggled once reaching Double-A. A supplemental first-round pick in 2011, Crick averaged 7.8 and 6.7 walks per nine innings in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
He pitched in Double-A for three consecutive seasons, recording a 5.04 ERA and 1.62 WHIP in 2016 before being permanently moved to the bullpen in Triple-A this past season.
In 29 1/3 innings at Triple-A Sacramento in 2017, Crick had a 2.76 ERA and 1.26 WHIP with 12 strikeouts per nine innings. He made his major league debut in June, allowing 1.20 WHIP in 32 1/3 innings for the Giants in 2017 with 7.8 strikeouts per nine innings. Control remains an issue, however.
Reynolds was a second-round pick in 2016 out of Vanderbilt and spent this past season at High-A San Jose, playing each outfield position. The switch-hitter batted .312/.364/.426 with 10 home runs and 63 RBI in 121 games. Although he has a combination of both speed and power, he likely won't reach the major leagues until 2019.
Huntington expanded on his logic behind the trade, specifically why he decided to trade McCutchen after previously stating that losing Cole did not change the Pirates' chances of winning a World Series in 2018:
After reaching the Mendoza Line in Atlanta on May 23, McCutchen rediscovered his swing. He batted .411/.505/.689 in June with six home runs, 23 RBI and only 12 strikeouts in 90 at-bats to be named National League Player of the Month. He then batted .322 with eight home runs and 19 RBI in July before struggling in August and then finishing strong in September and October. McCutchen finished the season with a .279/.363/.486 slash line, as well as a team-high 28 home runs and 88 RBI.
McCutchen previously expressed a desire to remain in Pittsburgh, but Huntington said signing the outfielder to another long-term extension for a price "he deserved" would damage the club's ability to consistently contend.
The Pirates had McCutchen on the trading block last offseason — talks with the Nationals seemed to break down during the Winter Meetings — but Huntington told reporters he wanted to give his current core another chance at the playoffs in 2017.
However, the Pirates did not add to their starting rotation, opting instead to rely on youth — including Tyler Glasnow — and did not replace Jung Ho Kang after the third baseman's third DUI conviction prevented him from obtaining a visa.
Then, the club placed Juan Nicasio on irrevocable waivers in July, losing him to the Phillies for nothing in return — saving $600,000 in the process — and sent Tony Watson to the Dodgers at the trade deadline.
This time, though, Huntington looked at his roster, even with Cole and McCutchen, and decided the Pirates were two years away from contending.
"I think it’s fairly obvious the closer to free agency the less you get in return for most players," Huntington said of the return for McCutchen. "Does that result in regret [in not trading McCutchen sooner]? No, we wanted to give that team a chance and we talked about giving this team a chance, and then we realized in '16 to '17 we were one year out. ’17 to ’18 we were two years away from where we needed to be and that’s a postseason-caliber team."
So, the Pirates opted to trade McCutchen, rather than trying to contend with him one last time, choosing to move towards a youth movement built around Josh Bell, Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco, young starting pitching and these latest additions. Huntington told reporters Saturday that three players acquired in the Cole trade — pitcher Joe Musgrove, third baseman Colin Moran and reliever Michael Feliz — will contribute in the major leagues this season.
Harrison, 30, is likely the next to be traded and has reportedly drawn interest from the Yankees, Mets and Brewers. He is under club control for three more seasons — including team options for 2019 and 2020 — and will make $10.25 million in 2018.
With Marte now taking over as the starting center fielder — the position he played for 13 games prior to his suspension in April — the Pirates have a vacancy in left.
Top prospect Austin Meadows is not expected to be ready for the major leagues at the start of 2018 after an injury-shortened season at Triple-A, so the Pirates could explore other options via trade or free agency. They could also use Adam Frazier, an above-average defender as an outfielder in 2017, as the starter in left.
However, Huntington declined to use the term "rebuild," when asked of this roster's potential in 2018, saying a rebuild implies not being able to compete until "five years down the road." But both he and Nutting said they were thinking long-term when deciding whether to keep or trade McCutchen.
"We had a lot of discussions about it," Nutting said. "There’s nothing easy. We have so much appreciation for Andrew McCutchen. … I needed to be sure, this organization needed to be sure, that this decision was indeed going to make the team stronger. Stronger in the long term, ready to compete, more able to compete and so to that extent, it was very engaged. ... They went through exhaustive energy, work, options, review and we believe, he believes, I believe this will make the Pittsburgh Pirates stronger over the long term."
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
