Insider Predicts Crucial Pirates Free Agent Move
The Pittsburgh Pirates are certainly not known to be big spenders. After all, they rank 29th in the MLB in payroll, even behind the likes of the Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins.
However, the Pirates will be faced with some crucial decisions this coming offseason, as six of their own players are slated to hit the free-agent market.
While Pittsburgh almost certainly won't be shelling out cash to all of them, Danny Demilio of Pittsburgh Baseball Now does expect the Pirates to retain one key player: Andrew McCutchen.
"General manager Ben Cherington said he’d like for McCutchen to end his career in a Pirates’ uniform," Demilio wrote. "It’s only a matter of time before McCutchen signs another one-year deal for 2025."
McCutchen had a solid year in 2024, slashing .232/.328/.411 with 20 home runs and 50 RBI while serving as Pittsburgh's designated hitter.
The 38-year-old is in his second stint with the Pirates after beginning his career with the club back in 2009, when he broke into the big leagues as a top prospect.
McCutchen spent the first nine years of his career in Pittsburgh, earning five straight All-Star appearances between 2011 and 2015 and even winning an NL MVP award in 2013. That year, he slashed .317/.404/.508 with 21 homers, 38 doubles and 84 RBI. He also stole 27 bases.
But McCutchen's best statistical campaign actually came in 2014, when he registered a .952 OPS. He posted four top-five MVP finishes with the Pirates, finishing in the top three on a trio of occasions.
The Fort Meade, Fl. native then spent time with the San Francisco Giants, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers before returning to Pittsburgh in 2023.
McCutchen owns a lifetime slash line of .273/.367/.462 with 319 long balls.
