Andrew McCutchen is currently unsigned until 2026, but the former NL MVP is still miffed that the Pirates didn’t invite him to their annual preseason fan fest.
McCutchen, who played twelve of his seventeen MLB seasons in Pittsburgh, expressed his displeasure on social media on Saturday evening.
He mentioned Albert Pujols, Clayton Kershaw, Miguel Cabrera and others as examples of longtime stars who attended team functions in the past despite not being under contract for that upcoming season.
“I wonder if the Cards did this [to Adam] Wainwright/Pujols/Yadi [Molina]? Dodgers to Kershaw? Tigers for Miggy? The list goes on,” McCutchen wrote on X. “If this is my last year, it would have been nice to meet the fans one last time as a player.”
Pirates GM Ben Cherington gave vague answers Saturday about why McCutchen — a five-time All-Star outfielder and the 2013 NL MVP — was not in attendance.
“Andrew meant a lot to the team. He delivered incredible performances on two separate occasions. His legacy as a Pirate is certainly secure,” Cherington said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Everyone at the Pirates, it is our desire to maintain a very good relationship with Andrew well into the future.”
The 39-year-old McCutchen, who played in 25 games for the Yankees in 2018, hit just .239 with 13 home runs, 57 RBIs and a .700 OPS in 135 games — 120 as a design hitter — for the Pirates last season.
“Then we come back to our team. What’s the job? The job is to build a team that gives us the best chance to win games when you’re on the ball field in June and July,” Cherington added. “Our approach this season has been very focused on what gives us the best chance to win more baseball games in Pittsburgh than in recent seasons. That will continue to inform our decisions. So much respect for Andrew. That relationship is very important to us.”
“We will continue to communicate directly with him as the team meets. We still have more work to do.”
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