The Andrew McCutchen Era in San Francisco has apparently ended, which is not entirely a surprise. Not because the Giants needed to move him, but because the Giants needed to move toward a future, any future.
Indeed, many speculated when the Giants obtained McCutchen from Pittsburgh this past winter that they could move him if things didn’t go the way Larry Baer dreamed they would go on Christmas Eve. Now that they haven’t, his assumed transfer to the New York Yankees (for the standard prospects of uncertain vintage) is an acknowledgement that while his magic had no appreciable affect on the Third And King Thing, it is still considered formidable enough for the American League playoff race.
And that’s all the lesson there is about that. McCutchen was a low-level gamble – a smart and characterful player on the downside of a stellar career, still with enough left in the spare tank to potentially help the second-best team in baseball.
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Good on him. Everyone in a position to know agrees this is a well-merited reward.
For the Giants, though, it is one more well that ran dry too soon, like Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija. They stretched the comforter of 2014 further than it could stretch, and this is further acknowledgement of that.
McCutchen’s season was fair and honest but uneventful – 15 homers, 55 RBI and .255/.357/.415, the quintessential 2018 Giants player. He didn’t show up in San Francisco overweight or moody or bitter, he did his duty without grouse or shirk, and just well enough to get a better job in a more promising situation – albeit with the hyper-judgey Yankee fans who miss Aaron Judgey.
(Sorry. Won’t happen again).
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In other words, Andrew McCutchen gave the Giants what he had in April, May, June, July and August, and the Giants gave Andrew McCutchen the September he always wanted. They just didn’t get one for themselves, and McCutchen’s time here will always be a reminder of that. He was a 2018 Giant, and you can take that any way you like.