SAN FRANCISCO — Andrew McCutchen's image adorns the facade of his new home at AT&T Park, overlooking Willie Mays Plaza and statues of Gaylord Perry and Orlando Cepeda.
His Giants entered Thursday one game under .500. They are in fourth place in the West Division and have six teams to jump in the Wild Card race, including a rejuvenated, revamped version of his former team. McCutchen will face the Pirates for four games this weekend, less than two weeks after the non-waiver trade deadline.
While McCutchen's new team stood pat, his former team, the one that traded him less than seven months earlier, made the biggest move around the majors, acquiring Chris Archer, an ace starter and two-time All-Star. It left McCutchen wondering why the Pirates' ownership decided now was the time to make such a move, when they didn't so in his nine seasons with the club.
"As far as getting Archer, I felt like that was a pretty big move for them," McCutchen told reporters Thursday afternoon at AT&T Park. "I said I don’t really know if we ever really got an ace before when I was there. Someone asked me if I was surprised, and yeah, for the matter of a team that had been doing well, which they have been, and to go out on top of that, off past experiences, adding an ace starter like Archer; that’s a really bold, big move for the Pirates. When you saw that, it was like, ‘Dang, really?’ "
McCutchen was asked the question following his comments to Bob Nightengale of USA Today last week, when he wondered about the timing of the move and if the Pirates possibly learned from their previous mistakes of not trading prospects to land a player of Archer's caliber. While they made additions in the past, none had the resume or recent success of Archer, who is still 29 years old and under contract for three more years.
Huntington wasn't active at the non-waiver trade deadline in 2013; however, he added Marlon Byrd and Justin Mourneau before the Pirates qualified for the playoffs, although they lost to the Cardinals in the NLDS. He chose to stand pat at the deadline the following season, too, despite the club being six games over .500 on July 31.
His only move was trading Jason Grilli to the Angels in exchange for Ernesto Frieri, who was released a little over a month later. The Pirates won 87 games and lost to the Giants in the Wild Card game. During the Pirates' 98-win season in 2015, which ended with another loss in the Wild Card game, Huntington acquired Aramis Ramirez, Joakim Soria, J.A. Happ and Michael Morse.
With the club two games over .500 in 2016, Mark Melancon was dealt to the Nationals for Felipe Vazquez and Taylor Hearn before Ivan Nova, a free agent at season's end, was added. During McCutchen's tenure, Huntington tried to acquire David Price and Jose Quintana, both ace pitchers on their previous teams, but the Pirates balked at including top prospects in either trade.
Huntington, speaking to reporters during his final weekly press briefing before the non-waiver deadline last month, expressed regret for not doing more during those three consecutive playoff seasons, particularly his failure to complete a blockbuster deal like the one he later did to land Archer.
"Everybody was like, 'Wow, good for them. They’re making that push and not looking back,' " McCutchen said. "I said before, maybe this year is just a little bit different considering the past. There may have been opportunities where one move may have been made and they didn’t make the move or whatever, probably learned from it and said, ‘All right, this time we don’t want to look back and say we didn’t go for it with everything we had.’ Last time they did that."
McCutchen, dealt to the Giants in December for Kyle Crick, Bryan Reynolds and international slot money, is batting leadoff and playing right field Thursday night, yet he could be the next big name to be dealt. He's a free agent this winter and was reportedly being shopped at the non-waiver deadline. With the Giants falling out of contention, it's possible they could trade him before the end of the month.
Doing so would capitalize on his recent success, including a .270 average and .849 OPS over his past 30 days. Yet, McCutchen expressed optimism the Giants can make a late push, despite having a roster decimated by injuries for much of the season.
"I’ve had a few wild card stints and have been eliminated by this team when I wasn’t here," McCutchen said. "These guys have the experience of making the second-half runs, second-half pushes from the Wild Card and throughout it. There’s a sense of urgency. of course. There isn’t panic, either. Everyone is just showing up and we know the job we have to do here. ... We know we have to show up today, play with everything we’ve got and try to win the ballgame."