The offseason MLB Winter Meetings are still about two weeks away, but already teams are getting their battle plans in place as to what their focus is going to be, and everyone basically knows the Indians focus will be on both the bullpen and the outfield.
With the team not looking to break the bank, and actually shed some payroll, there’s been plenty of rumors about the club getting rid of some key players, as well as having to pick up affordable options at the same time.
There’s one outfielder who the Indians it seems like has been linked with for quite some time, but also has watched his play on the field decrease in a big way the last few years, and that’s former National Leauge MVP Andrew McCutchen.
Last season McCutchen played for two franchises, as he started the season with the San Francisco Giants, and then when they realized they were heading nowhere, they dealt him at the waiver deadline to the New York Yankees.
McCutchen in 25 games hit .253 with the Yankees, while not terrible they are average numbers for a 32-year-old player who clearly is on the downside of his career.
Gone are the days of the MVP years, like 2012 when he hit .327 with 31 homers and 96 runs batted in for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who did whatever they could to try and get McCutchen back on track before he was dealt.
So why would the Indians want to grab a player like McCutchen at this point? Well the obvious thing is he’s not going to have the leverage to demand a ton on the open market, and if he does and says the right things the team may see a player who has one good year left in him at 32 years old.
Fans seem to think that McCutchen might be bound for Cleveland this offseason, as MLBTradeRumors.com in their annual ‘free agent prediction contest’ where readers pick where free agents will go, have McCutchen coming to the Indians.
Here’s the results of the contest:
Andrew McCutchen – Indians (13.6%), Braves (9.3%), Cubs (9.2%), Pirates (5.4%), Phillies (4.9%), Yankees (4.8%), Nationals (4.3%), Mets (4.3%), Cardinals (4.0%), White Sox (3.6%), Mariners (3.4%), Giants (3.2%), Rockies (3.2%), Diamondbacks (3.1%)
Now of course this means nothing to McCutchen actually coming to the Tribe, but it’s interesting to think that readers, many of whom don’t even root for the Indians, seem to think that McCutchen is a match this offseason for the Indians.
Time will tell, as well as what McCutchen feels he’s worth on the open market, and if the Indians have the same opinion.
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