Pirates are still “willing” to trade Andrew McCutchen

Earlier this offseason, the Pittsburgh Pirates made waves when there were rumors that they were trying to trade Andrew McCutchen. There was plenty of smoke -- particularly with the Washington Nationals -- but the fire ended up being just a small ember, if it even existed at all.

Ever since then, the Pirates have not only announced that they’re moving the face of their franchise to right field, but it also seems like they’re still trying to keep the flames of trade rumors lit up.

Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review recently did a spring training preview for the Pirates, and he threw in a side note that the Pirates were still willing to trade Andrew McCutchen and Josh Harrison as well. The operative word there is “willing,” because it doesn’t seem like Pittsburgh is actively trying to trade the two of them at the moment. With that being said, the Pirates have to be aware that they’ve got two very enticing trade chips on their hands and are still keeping the door open when it comes to moving one or both of them.

This does put the Pirates in an interesting position as far as their particular situation when it comes to their “window.” The team has the prospects to go after a high-end starter (like Jose Quintana, for instance) who might be available on the trade market. But they could also just as quickly decide to go on the path of rebuilding. They would be opting for the latter if they chose to move one or both of either McCutchen or Harrison. Even though McCutchen had a down year in 2016, he could still probably bring in a decent haul that could help kickstart a potential rebuild. Pittsburgh has plenty of options at its disposal, but it’s apparent that the Pirates still are trying to figure out which path they want to go down at this particular fork in the road.