Andrew McCutchen is presently unsigned for 2026, however the former NL MVP remains to be miffed that the Pirates didn’t invite him to their annual preseason fan fest.
McCutchen, who has performed 12 of his 17 MLB seasons in Pittsburgh over two stints, took to social media Saturday night time to specific his unhappiness.
He cited Albert Pujols, Clayton Kershaw, Miguel Cabrera and others as examples of longtime stars who attended crew features prior to now regardless of not being beneath contract for that upcoming season.
“I ponder, did the Playing cards do that [to Adam] Wainwright/Pujols/Yadi [Molina]? Dodgers to Kershaw? Tigers to Miggy? The checklist goes on and on,” McCutchen wrote on X. “If that is my final yr, it will have been good to fulfill the followers one final time as a participant.”
Pirates GM Ben Cherington gave imprecise solutions Saturday about why McCutchen — a five-time All-Star outfielder and the 2013 NL MVP — was not in attendance.
“Andrew has meant a ton to the crew. He’s had an unbelievable run at two totally different instances. Actually, his legacy as a Pirate is safe,” Cherington mentioned, in response to the Pittsburgh Publish-Gazette. “All people with the Pirates, it’s our need to keep up a very good relationship with Andrew effectively into the long run.”
The 39-year-old McCutchen, who appeared in 25 video games for the Yankees in 2018, batted simply .239 with 13 house runs, 57 RBIs and a .700 OPS in 135 video games — 120 as a chosen hitter — for the Pirates final season.
“Then we come again to our crew. What’s the job? The job is to construct a crew that offers us one of the best probability to win video games whenever you’re on the ballpark in June and July,” Cherington added. “Our strategy this offseason has been laser-focused on what provides us one of the best probability to win extra baseball video games in Pittsburgh than we now have prior to now seasons. That’s gonna proceed to information our choices. A lot respect for Andrew. That relationship is absolutely necessary to us.
“We’ll proceed to speak with him straight because the crew comes collectively. Now we have extra work to do.”
