Phillies Sign Former MVP Andrew McCutchen To $50M Deal

PHILADELPHIA, PA — The Phillies have made their second major acquisition of the offseason, signing former MVP outfielder Andrew McCutchen.

The deal is reportedly for three years, with a club option for a fourth year, and worth $50 million, sources state. The deal was first reported by Matt Gelb of The Athletic. The official signing is still pending a physical.

McCutchen, who turned 32 last month, might be past his 2013 National League MVP superstar form, but the the longtime face of the Pirates franchise remains an excellent, well above-average player. Between the Giants and Yankees in 2018, he hit .255 with a .368 on base percentage and a stellar .859 OPS. He also added 20 home runs and 14 stolen bases.

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While McCutchen is a stellar pickup for the Phillies who will improve their 2019 team, he was not the name Phillies fans hoped to hear about as MLB's Winter Meetings get underway in Las Vegas this week. However, multiple reports indicate that the McCutchen signing would not preclude the Phillies from signing yet another outfielder, such as Bryce Harper. Nor, given their financial might this year, does it preclude them from signing Manny Machado.

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A career .287 hitter, the five-time All Star McCutchen is another high batting average, decent power piece for the Phillies to plug in beside fellow offseason acquisition and All Star Jean Segura. Batting average was arguably the weakest part of an on-base-first-mentality Phillies squad in 2018, when they finished last in the National League with a .234 mark. It was a major part of their late season decline.

McCutchen's .368 on-base-percentage is also elite, however, and he served as the leadoff man in both San Francisco and New York in 2018.

Defensively, he's likely to slot in at right field, where he played most of last year.

According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Phillies choice came down to McCutchen and former Indian Michael Brantley, who put up a season similar in value to McCutchen last year. However, Brantley comes with major injury concerns, so they reportedly picked McCutchen.

The more interesting takeaway from this might be the discovery that the Phillies plan was to add one outfielder not named Harper all along, and then continue to pursue Harper. Clearly, Phillies brass thought they could improve significantly on the alignment of Odubel Herrera, Roman Quinn, Nick Williams, Aaron Altherr, and Dylan Cozens, if they're considering adding two additional men out on the grass.

Needless to say, adding McCutchen (nevermind potentially adding Harper on top of that) makes the Phillies outfield situation very crowded, and certainly means that one or more of those five outfielders is very likely to be traded.

That young and talented but thus far inconsistent group can now be utilized in a potential deal with, say, the Indians for Corey Kluber or the Giants for Madison Bumgarner, to name two rumored starting pitcher trade targets.

Of the group, Herrera feels like the least likely to be traded, given his high salary. The other four come cheaply and with years of control and would be great assets to a rebuilding squad in San Francisco or a cost-conscious club in Cleveland.

McCutchen, not insignificantly, has also long been praised as a beloved clubhouse leader and positive presence, and could fill the void left by Carlos Santana on a still young Phillies roster.

More to follow.

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