Final act? Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen ‘not necessarily just here to be here’
September 26, 2025
Final act? Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen ‘not necessarily just here to be here’
8 comments
An excerpt:
“From a team standpoint, I feel like we’re beating the same drum,” McCutchen said. “Third year back, kind of feels the same just from an instance of where we are. It does kind of feel the same. …. It just leads me to think, like, what’s the plan moving forward, and what is it gonna look like next season? Just saying, if I happen to be back here, like, what does that look like? I don’t know. It’s just some questions that [I] have and I’m sure a lot of people have.”
I hate to say it, but if he wants to chase a ring before he retires, he’s going to have to go somewhere else. It would be kind of hollow, I suppose, if he ended up as a pinch hitter and part-time DH against left-handers on the Los Angeles Dodgers, for example. He be there for 1 year or maybe two at the most and then he puts his artificial ring in the trophy case. You know what I mean by artificial. He wouldn’t have any roots with that team or any real history, etc. in other words, rhere’s no doubt in my mind that he’d rather see it happen in Pittsburgh. But he knows he’s got a year or maybe two left at most, and with the labor Armageddon coming next winter, 2026 might be it for him, depending on how long the stoppage would last.
So he’s asking himself, is this really how I want to go out? And now that he’s come back to Pittsburgh in good faith and given the Pirates three more years on the back end of his career after they traded him, and the team hasn’t made any progress…. well, you can see where he’s coming from. And honestly, at this stage of his career, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he did move on. They could always re-sign him for a day so he retires as a Pirate, that sort of thing. Or if he lasts longer than I think he will, and the sport doesn’t shut down for any length of time, maybe he goes somewhere else for 2 years and then comes back for a final tour as a pinch hitter the year after that. Just thinking out loud here.
Well these comments have some depth to them coming from Cutch
This team has 100% just milked McCutchen coming back to make money and it’s pretty disgusting. His feelings are completely warranted for this, he came back to make a difference and the front office just completely failed him.
Until Skenes stops being a nice guy and starts hammering ownership nothing is going to change.
17th in league and 20th in OPS and Home runs for a DH. They need to upgrade the DH. Sorry Cutch. This is goodbye.
Look, I love cutch and he is mostly responsible for giving me the greatest three years of my life from ‘13-‘15 but if this organization unexpectedly finds that sense of urgency to “win now”, I don’t see him as a plausible offseason signing. I hope he signs elsewhere and, maybe, just maybe, his team falters and we find ourselves in need of a veteran bench bat at the deadline.
8 comments
An excerpt:
“From a team standpoint, I feel like we’re beating the same drum,” McCutchen said. “Third year back, kind of feels the same just from an instance of where we are. It does kind of feel the same. …. It just leads me to think, like, what’s the plan moving forward, and what is it gonna look like next season? Just saying, if I happen to be back here, like, what does that look like? I don’t know. It’s just some questions that [I] have and I’m sure a lot of people have.”
[https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2025/09/26/mlb-pirates-andrew-mccutchen-free-agent-bob-nutting-ben-cherington/stories/202509240093](https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2025/09/26/mlb-pirates-andrew-mccutchen-free-agent-bob-nutting-ben-cherington/stories/202509240093)
Good. Move on. It’s time to get young talent
I hate to say it, but if he wants to chase a ring before he retires, he’s going to have to go somewhere else. It would be kind of hollow, I suppose, if he ended up as a pinch hitter and part-time DH against left-handers on the Los Angeles Dodgers, for example. He be there for 1 year or maybe two at the most and then he puts his artificial ring in the trophy case. You know what I mean by artificial. He wouldn’t have any roots with that team or any real history, etc. in other words, rhere’s no doubt in my mind that he’d rather see it happen in Pittsburgh. But he knows he’s got a year or maybe two left at most, and with the labor Armageddon coming next winter, 2026 might be it for him, depending on how long the stoppage would last.
So he’s asking himself, is this really how I want to go out? And now that he’s come back to Pittsburgh in good faith and given the Pirates three more years on the back end of his career after they traded him, and the team hasn’t made any progress…. well, you can see where he’s coming from. And honestly, at this stage of his career, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he did move on. They could always re-sign him for a day so he retires as a Pirate, that sort of thing. Or if he lasts longer than I think he will, and the sport doesn’t shut down for any length of time, maybe he goes somewhere else for 2 years and then comes back for a final tour as a pinch hitter the year after that. Just thinking out loud here.
Well these comments have some depth to them coming from Cutch
This team has 100% just milked McCutchen coming back to make money and it’s pretty disgusting. His feelings are completely warranted for this, he came back to make a difference and the front office just completely failed him.
Until Skenes stops being a nice guy and starts hammering ownership nothing is going to change.
17th in league and 20th in OPS and Home runs for a DH. They need to upgrade the DH. Sorry Cutch. This is goodbye.
Look, I love cutch and he is mostly responsible for giving me the greatest three years of my life from ‘13-‘15 but if this organization unexpectedly finds that sense of urgency to “win now”, I don’t see him as a plausible offseason signing. I hope he signs elsewhere and, maybe, just maybe, his team falters and we find ourselves in need of a veteran bench bat at the deadline.