{"id":538096,"date":"2026-01-25T21:26:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T21:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/538096\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T21:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T21:26:17","slug":"andrew-mccutchen-airs-out-pirates-grievances-after-fan-fest-snub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/538096\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew McCutchen airs out Pirates grievances after fan-fest snub"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Andrew McCutchen is presently unsigned for 2026, but the former NL MVP is still miffed that the Pirates did not invite him to their annual preseason fan fest.<\/p>\n<p>McCutchen, who has played 12 of his 17 MLB seasons in Pittsburgh over two stints, took to social media Saturday night to express his unhappiness. <\/p>\n<p>He cited Albert Pujols, Clayton Kershaw, Miguel Cabrera and others as examples of longtime stars who attended team functions in the past despite not being under contract for that upcoming season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wonder, did the Cards do this [to Adam] Wainwright\/Pujols\/Yadi [Molina]? Dodgers to Kershaw? Tigers to Miggy? The list goes on and on,\u201d McCutchen wrote on X. \u201cIf this is my last year, it would have been nice to meet the fans one last time as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38283107\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2247803763.jpg\" alt=\"Andrew McCutchen during batting practice before a game against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on September 26, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia.\" class=\"wp-image-38283107\"\/>Andrew McCutchen during batting practice before a game against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on September 26, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Pirates GM Ben Cherington gave vague answers Saturday about why McCutchen \u2014 a five-time All-Star outfielder and the 2013 NL MVP \u2014 was not in attendance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAndrew has meant a ton to the team. He\u2019s had an incredible run at two different times. Certainly, his legacy as a Pirate is secure,\u201d Cherington said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. \u201cEverybody with the Pirates, it\u2019s our desire to maintain a really good relationship with Andrew well into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 39-year-old McCutchen, who appeared in 25 games for the Yankees in 2018, batted just .239 with 13 home runs, 57 RBIs and a .700 OPS in 135 games \u2014 120 as a designated hitter \u2014 for the Pirates last season.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38283105\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2247803714.jpg\" alt=\"Andrew McCutchen bats against the Atlanta Braves in the third inning at Truist Park on September 26, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia.\" class=\"wp-image-38283105\"  \/>Andrew McCutchen bats against the Atlanta Braves in the third inning at Truist Park on September 26, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen we come back to our team. What is the job? The job is to build a team that gives us the best chance to win games when you\u2019re at the ballpark in June and July,\u201d\u00a0Cherington added. \u201cOur approach this offseason has been laser-focused on what gives us the best chance to win more baseball games in Pittsburgh than we have in the past seasons. That\u2019s gonna continue to guide our decisions. So much respect for Andrew. That relationship is really important to us.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll continue to communicate with him directly as the team comes together. We have more work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrew McCutchen is presently unsigned for 2026, but the former NL MVP is still miffed that the Pirates&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2402],"tags":[1151,5,4,10,776,64,4297,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-538096","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-pirates","8":"tag-andrew-mccutchen","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-pirates","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","14":"tag-pittsburghpirates","15":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115957858121102757","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}