💫 The Andrew McCutchen Mets rumors were truly dizzying

Hello fellow Mets fans! Welcome to today’s edition of Almost A Met.

Across many different front offices, spanning different eras of Mets baseball, one thing became readily clear to me as I wrote this newsletter: The Mets really wanted OF Andrew McCutchen wearing orange and blue.

I recalled reports in 2023 about making him a fourth outfielder type, but I totally forgot about all of the different times McCutchen was linked to the team.

There’s a lot to unpack, so strap in.

Andrew

As far back as the end of the 2016 season, there were reports that the Pittsburgh Pirates were looking into trading the face of their franchise: OF Andrew McCutchen.

From 2009 through 2016, McCutchen had hit 175 HRs, knocked in 637 RBIs, batted .292 and had an OPS+ of 138. He’d made the All-Star game five straight times and won the MVP award in 2013.

But after a down year in 2016, and his contract coming to an end after the 2017 season, the Pirates who had just finished 78-83, were at least considering moving on.

In December 2016, reports surfaced that the Mets had spoken with the Pirates about McCutchen’s availability. The fit made some sense. In fact, some media outlets said the Mets needed to “go all in” for the outfielder.

However, CBS News reported at the time that GM Sandy Alderson would likely have to trade away another player already on the roster who had a sizable contract — such as OF Jay Bruce or OF Curtis Granderson — to make the money work.

No deal ended up working out and McCutchen would bounce back during the 2017 season to hit .279 with 28 HRs and 88 RBIs.

As I mentioned earlier, there’s been a flurry of rumors connecting the Mets and McCutchen for years.

In a tweet on January 4, 2018, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that the two teams “discussed McCutchen, just as they did last off-season.” He also cautioned that no deal was close and that the Mets did appear more likely to try and sign a free agent outfielder rather than trade for someone like McCutchen because of their “lack of depth” in the minors.

Some more reporting was done on the potential swap, with MLB.com speculating that their top prospects might not be enough to get a deal done since they were so low in the minor leagues.

Rosenthal would report (after a trade we’ll get to in a second) that the Mets turned down a trade that would have sent then-young prospect OF Brandon Nimmo (Editor’s note: god, I felt old writing that) to the Pirates in exchange for the outfielder.

Sounds awfully familiar to last offseason —the two sides just couldn’t make it work, whether it’s because of money or prospects. But clearly, the Mets kept seeing opportunities to bring him to Queens.

Less than 10 days after Rosenthal’s initial tweet, McCutchen was traded to the San Francisco Giants for a package of prospects that included (now) Pirate mainstay OF Bryan Reynolds.

But that doesn’t mean McCutchen wouldn’t be heading to New York. Later that same season, the Giants traded him to the Yankees for a pair of prospects. He’d play in the Bronx before hitting free agency following the 2018 season.

And then — you guessed it — there was even more speculation about a Mets-McCutchen pairing.

Almost immediately, there was a push online for the Mets to pursue McCutchen once again. MetsMerizedOnline weighed the pros and cons of such a move, while also commending the team for not parting with Nimmo.

Other outlets also speculated about a signing. But ultimately, the outfielder would end up signing with the Philadelphia Phillies on a three-year $50 million contract.

While I couldn’t find much about any negotiations or concrete news connecting them, in an alternate universe, this probably would have happened. The 2019 season would be the first under new GM Brodie Van Wagenen, and as we have reported multiple times in this newsletter, the dude loved a big splashy move.

We’re nearing the end here. I promise. But this time there’s some added intrigue.

Flash forward to January 2023. McCutchen was on the Phillies from 2019 through 2021, where he accumulated 2.8 WAR over 260 games. He then signed with the Milwaukee Brewers for the 2022 season, where he only had a 1 WAR season. It was clear his best days were behind him, which is not all that shocking given his age.

And that’s where the Mets come back in.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported in early January 2023 that in their search for a fourth-outfielder type of player, the Mets were interested in McCutchen — but it wasn’t clear if that was the kind of role he saw himself in.

But, once again, nope.

McCutchen decided to go on a return tour with the Pirates. What makes this somewhat intriguing is the fact that one report suggested the outfielder was offered the same one-year $5 million deal he got from the Pirates by the Minnesota Twins and was offered even more money by the Mets.

So there we have it. Although, McCutchen was just released by Atlanta after he was signed to a minor league contract last month. That means there’s at least one more shot for a Mets-McCutchen signing. But given the state of the Mets at the moment, it seems unlikely.

[Another editor’s note: This newsletter won’t have the traditional “What happened next?” section because truly that’s the whole newsletter.]

Let’s pick something concrete. Would you have traded Brandon Nimmo for Andrew McCutchen in 2018?

Next newsletter we’ll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.

Last newsletter’s answers: It was unanimous! 100% of Almost A Met voters said they would have given Kevin Gausman a five-year $110 million deal.

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