He’s coming home: Pirates, Andrew McCutchen agree to one-year deal

It’s happening, folks. Andrew McCutchen is coming back to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

News shook social media Friday morning that Cutch and the Pirates agreed to a one-year deal, pending a physical.

While the team has yet to officially announce the move, it’s safe to say by the deal is done based on the following tweet:

The five-time all-star returns to the team after more than five years away from the Pirates. Last year with the Milwaukee Brewers, Cutch finished with a 1.1 WAR over 134 games, slashing .237/.316/.384 with 17 home runs and 69 RBIs.

Cutch’s career started in Pittsburgh. He was drafted in the 11th overall in the 2005 MLB Draft and made his debut June 4, 2009 against the New York Mets.

That year, he finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting after slashing .286/.365/.471. His first of five consecutive All-Star game appearance came in 2011. He also finished in the top five in NL MVP voting from 2012-2015, notching his first and only title in 2013.

The Pirates traded McCutchen to the San Francisco Giants in the 2017 offseason, netting the departed Kyle Crick and current center fielder Bryan Reynolds.

Ironic, isn’t it?

After spending the first half of 2018 in the Bay Area, the Giants traded McCutchen to the New York Yankees, where he finished the season. Then, he spent three seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies before signing with Milwaukee last year.

While the signing shocked many Pirates fans, a reunion wasn’t completely out of the picture. Fans began speculating that a return was near after Cutch liked a tweet from Talkin’ Baseball in December that said the reunion “needs to happen.”

Dreams of seeing Cutch back in a Pirates uniform started fading at the beginning of the week, however, as several outlets reported that the New York Mets were interested in the former MVP.

Little did they know, Ben Cherington was cooking up a deal.

Financial details aren’t known about this deal yet, and Mackey reports that the signing of Cutch is not linked to a Reynolds trade.

Writer’s note: I wrote about bringing Cutch home on November 4, 2021. You can click here to read that story. Welcome home, Cutch!