OnlyBucs

I think McCutchen is better on route running and tracking down balls over Polanco. Yeah, Polanco has a much better arm, but he misses way too many balls in my opinion.



Putting McCutchen in LF at PNC Park would be bad. Marte coves so much ground and holds runners to singles. Everyone would run on McCutchen.



I do wonder why Marte doesn't play more CF on the road. Maybe put McCutchen in LF in those conventional ballparks? It will be a learning curve for him, but a better idea.



Overall, I think McCutchen's arm is weak, but I think he is above average out there. I am rarely nervous when a ball is hit to him. And no way is he Pedro Alvarez bad. Kind of shocked someone said he is as bad as Alvarez (Wow).

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


I'm not going to dispute that it's very likely his days of competing for an MVP are passed him.   



I have a very hard time, I'm going to say impossible time, believing that a player of his caliber falls off this abruptly at 29.   This is mostly in his head.    



You don't go from a 5 - 6 WAR talent to a replacement level player because you had a birthday.  I don't buy it for a second.   He will rebound.   That said, regardless of his bat, losing his speed is making is defense unwatchable in CF... so I hope they move him asap.

5F545C5055544F0A0C7B425A5354541558543B0 wrote: I think McCutchen is better on route running and tracking down balls over Polanco. Yeah, Polanco has a much better arm, but he misses way too many balls in my opinion.



Putting McCutchen in LF at PNC Park would be bad. Marte coves so much ground and holds runners to singles. Everyone would run on McCutchen.



I do wonder why Marte doesn't play more CF on the road. Maybe put McCutchen in LF in those conventional ballparks? It will be a learning curve for him, but a better idea.



Overall, I think McCutchen's arm is weak, but I think he is above average out there. I am rarely nervous when a ball is hit to him. And no way is he Pedro Alvarez bad. Kind of shocked someone said he is as bad as Alvarez (Wow).


well, there's plenty of shock to go around then (though I don't think he's as bad in CF as Pedro was at first).   I'm shocked that someone can watch him play CF and think he's above average.      But then again, you and I agree on almost nothing in baseball.   So it would be shocking if what you said made sense to me.

I guess it depends on what you think Average is. He has had better years out there, but overall I don't think he is a defensive liability out there.



Do you think Polanco is better besides arm strength?



McCutchen did win a Gold Glove in 2012. He was also a finalist in 2015. I know some don't think they mean much, but that does mean many, many others agree with me that his play out there is at least "above average". If you are into defensive stats (many are) he is in the Top 3 in many categories too.

What defensive stats? Fld%?



Polanco is a RFer. Comparing a RF and a CF defensively is like comparing a family sedan to a sports car. I believe Polanco is a better RF than Cutch is a CF.

There are a bunch of defensive stats used today: Putouts, Assists, Double Plays, Total Zone Runs, Range Factor and of course Fielding Percentage.



McCutchen, over his career, has been pretty high in most categories. He is up there in some again this year so far too.



I think you can compare outfielders to each other. They all run down balls so you can see their route running. They all still have to catch the ball (you know Polanco led the league in errors last year, right?). It is not like comparing a Sedan to a Sports Car. CF has more ground to cover, but that is about it.



Players who are below average don't get nominated for major awards. You might not think they deserve certain awards, but they still deserve to be nominated. The "eye test" is an opinion, but the stats also back up my eyes.

78796273652522160 wrote: 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.


That is another problem, which makes his bad defense even worse. I believe it was Friday where a runner was rounding third and he casually threw to second.

6368606C6968733630477E666F6868296468070 wrote: I think McCutchen is better on route running and tracking down balls over Polanco. Yeah, Polanco has a much better arm, but he misses way too many balls in my opinion.



Putting McCutchen in LF at PNC Park would be bad. Marte coves so much ground and holds runners to singles. Everyone would run on McCutchen.



I do wonder why Marte doesn't play more CF on the road. Maybe put McCutchen in LF in those conventional ballparks? It will be a learning curve for him, but a better idea.



Overall, I think McCutchen's arm is weak, but I think he is above average out there. I am rarely nervous when a ball is hit to him. And no way is he Pedro Alvarez bad. Kind of shocked someone said he is as bad as Alvarez (Wow).


Actually no one said that he was as bad as Pedro.



McCutchen is the third best CF on his own team, but you think he is average?



I find it hard to believe you watch McCutchen play much if you are going to seriously claim he is better than Polanco.



LF is the only play McCutchen can play. Jason Bay played out there for years with his awful arm. Again, Marte will cover most of the ground anyways, so it does not matter.

69646552444448414649270 wrote: 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.


That is another problem, which makes his bad defense even worse.  I believe it was Friday where a runner was rounding third and he casually threw to second.


I agree. That is my biggest issue with his defense. Those are mental errors that shouldn't happen.

6F666E7F710B0 wrote: 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


I'm not going to dispute that it's very likely his days of competing for an MVP are passed him.   



I have a very hard time, I'm going to say impossible time, believing that a player of his caliber falls off this abruptly at 29.   This is mostly in his head.    



You don't go from a 5 - 6 WAR talent to a replacement level player because you had a birthday.  I don't buy it for a second.   He will rebound.   That said, regardless of his bat, losing his speed is making is defense unwatchable in CF... so I hope they move him asap.


I agree. His defense stinks, and has for a long time. He is not stealing bases anymore. Not really new either, since he did that last year.



I have a hard time believing that he lost significant bat speed or cannot recognize pitches or whatever the new age related excuse is today. Prior to this season he was around 55% better than the average player offensively, and suddenly overnight he is 5% worse than the average player?



Not buying that. Jason Bay had a very similar giant step down at around the same age. He bounced back big time with multiple good years, and Bay was never the player McCutchen was.