Notes: Neal Huntington on the Andrew McCutchen contract

A couple notes to pass on from a slow Saturday:

-P- Here's some interesting stuff from Neal Huntington regarding the Andrew McCutchen contract, which is such a ridiculously good deal that the Pirates now apparently have to defend themselves for it.

"It has worked out well for him, he is a very wealthy young man," Huntington said. "He has been open about saying that the financial comfort and security freed him up to just go play. He didn't have to worry about the risk of injury, or the risk of not performing. The contract has been a part of why he became such a great player.

"Contrary to the narrative out there, these contracts don't always work out club-favorable. Many haven't. There is a lot of upside to both parties, but also shared risks."

That first paragraph is crucial -- $51.5 million is more than enough for anyone to live comfortably for the rest of his life, and with that out of the way, McCutchen could play with abandon and not worry about money. More to the point, though, Huntington has nothing to apologize for. It might not have turned out to be such a great deal, but it did, and the Pirates are now reaping the benefits of having one of the game's best players at much less than he's worth. The McCutchen contract was exactly the sort of move you'd hope your team's GM would make.

-P- I was amused by this quote from Phillies Rule 5 pick and former Pirates minor-leaguer Andy Oliver:

"This is a good opportunity for me," he said. "I feel like I’m in a better place than where I came from."

That sounds bad if we imagine he's talking purely about the Phillies organization versus the Pirates', in which case he's objectively wrong. But I suspect a lot of the "where I came from" Oliver is referring to is Triple-A, in which case he's right -- big-league camp, even the Phillies' big-league camp, is a better place to be. Here's hoping he manages to catch on in Philadelphia.