The Pirates don’t want prospects for Andrew McCutchen

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The Pirates want to trade Andrew McCutchen, as he’s owed $14 million in 2017 with a $1 million buyout on his $14.75 million 2018 option. Those sound like reasonable terms for McCutchen — more than reasonable, really, given how contract dollars keep going up and up — but for one thing: Cutch has potentially started to see his decline, and it hit hard. The advanced metrics suggest his defensive skill in center has dropped precipitously, and that’s come at the same time that his bat has been less effective as well. Unless this was all a strange blip, McCutchen has gone from an MVP-caliber player in his late-to-mid-20s to looking like a league-average left fielder by the time he hit 30.

So, the Pirates might find it a bit difficult to deal him, given that and their asking price. Pittsburgh could take prospects far from the majors in order to boost their farm system while taking some of the sting off the chance McCutchen doesn’t rebound for whomever acquires him, but they won’t. According to Jon Heyman, they’ve already rejected a deal with “nice offer” of prospects, citing their desire for near-ready or big-league ready talent in exchange for McCutchen. They don’t want to rebuild: They want to continue to compete with this core, only they don’t want Cutch’s paychecks or decline dragging them down.

The offer the Pirates are looking for might not exist. Many teams have already filled their outfield holes, and the risk that McCutchen will either repeat 2016 or slip further isn’t easy to ignore when the asking price is someone — or someones — who could help your team right now. We’ll see, though; things could change as spring training gets going, since teams suffer injuries that destroy plans before they can even be enacted. Someone could be desperate enough by then to trade a young pitcher or an infielder, from a position with depth, in order to take a chance on McCutchen to fill an unexpected hole in March. It’s certainly feeling like the longtime Bucs outfielder is staying put, though, yeah?