The Pirates still appear likely to trade Andrew McCutchen

UPDATE 4:32pm: The Pirates are "actively shopping" McCutchen, Stephen J. Nesbitt reports.

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Welcome to your daily episode of The Pirates Are Going To Trade Andrew McCutchen. What's out there for us today?

Andrew McCutchen is "most likely to go" of all big-name players potentially available in a trade, Ken Rosenthal reports. Rosenthal notes, ominously, that trading McCutchen would allow the Pirates to "re-allocate payroll," and says one problem is that McCutchen does not want to move from center field to a corner. He adds, though, that the Pirates will seek a significant return for McCutchen and will hold onto him if they don't get it. He names the Nationals (who, of course, reportedly tried to trade for McCutchen last summer) and Rangers (who need a center fielder, with both Ian Desmond and Carlos Gomez eligible for free agency) as potential fits.

Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan's reporting agrees with Rosenthal's -- he says the Pirates' ownership hasn't mandated that McCutchen be traded, but adds that the team is "intent" on dealing McCutchen anyway.

In any case, all this essentially confirms what you thought you already knew -- that the Bucs are very likely to trade McCutchen this winter. Look out for tomorrow's daily episode of The Pirates Are Going To Trade Andrew McCutchen, in which Jon Heyman will cite a source who will say, "The Magic 8 ball said 'it is decidedly so,'" and Chris Cotillo will mention an off-the-record text message with a PNC Park employee about re-numbering the ballpark's luxury suites to skip directly from 21 to 23.