OnlyBucs

I do think a move to right would be best for him and the team,just seams unreal that he would fall so far without a reason.To me just looks like he is playing with no life in him.

I really don't think his defense is that bad.



Yeah, Marte is better. But Marte is a top defensive player in all of baseball.



Polanco has a great arm and a better arm than McCutchen, but I would say McCutchen gets to the same amount of balls and actually makes the plays. Polanco is scary out there at times.



I don't see a reason to move McCutchen to right field. If RF is for the best arm, McCutchen doesn't belong out there. McCutchen needs out of the three hole to see if he starts hitting again. That's the wake up call he needs, not a position change.

I think the talk has been to move McCutchen to left field, where a premier arm is not required. Everywhere but Pittsburgh, right field calls for a strong arm. Unfortunately, left field here (where Cutch plays half his games, is almost as bad as center, so far as needing a strong arm. To me, his hitting problems this year have been seeing the ball and maybe over-swinging. He seems (or at least did not too long ago) to want to hit every pitch over everything in left. Along with that he swings at a lot of pitches outside the zone. I don't remember that from earlier years, and I have no idea what that would be.

6D425554425E4C44270 wrote: The team trading Walker opened the door for just about anyone else to be dealt


Not following. McCutchen has been many times more productive over his career than Walker. That is like saying the Penguins traded Ryan Malone, so the door is open to trade Sidney Crosby.

343F373B3E3F246167102931383F3F7E333F500 wrote: Who plays in the outfield?



Joyce is in a slump.  Frazier is not McCutchen.  Rodriguez?



McCutchen is still the best player for the Pirates to run out there every day.  I don't think his replacements would be better playing every day.  They could be exposed like they (Joyce, Rodriguez) were in the past.


Marte playing CF would instantly make the team better.  Probably to the point that it does not matter who the other OF is as long as McCutchen is hitting this poorly.



McCutchen is very bad in CF. Saying he is not that bad would be like saying Pedro was not that bad at 3B or 1B. You can say it, but that does not mean it is true.

446964757263743437060 wrote:

McCutchen is still the best player for the Pirates to run out there every day.  I don't think his replacements would be better playing every day.  They could be exposed like they (Joyce, Rodriguez) were in the past.
That's true. The problem is that Hurdle continues to bat him 3rd, which is killing the offense. Any other player hitting like Cutch has hit all season and not having "McCutchen" on the back of his uniform would be batting 6th or 7th.






The Pirates claimed the 3 spot did not matter earlier in the year.

505F44555E5007360 wrote: I do think a move to right would be best for him and the team,just seams unreal that he would fall so far without a reason.To me just looks like he is playing with no life in him.


RF?  With his arm?  Yuck. Play him in LF, Marte will catch half the balls hit to him anyways...he already covers part of CF as it is.



You are watching a different player if you think he has no life in him.

I would agree LF is the place for him.  RF wouldnt work.   Two throws from even medium RF that cutch can't physically make.   To 3rd, and to home.



Marte in center with specific instructions to take EVERYTHING He can get to on both sides of him instead of having Cutch make the calls in the OF.



Marte in center would help Cutch in LF and Polanco in RF. I'm not believing that common sense change will happen until I see it, however.

313A323E3B3A216462152C343D3A3A7B363A550 wrote: I really don't think his defense is that bad. 


Well, we watch different games then.   He CF defense is embarrassingly bad, in my eyes.   Also has bad range, which you would think shouldnt be the case, but the tracking has confirmed it for years.



 Hes definitely not as fast as he used to be, so his speed isn't covering his bad instincts out there anymore, making this year especially ugly.   

He also continues to throw to the wrong base allowing runners to move up. I hate to admit this as I am a huge fan but Cutch looks like his best days are behind him.