Going into the offseason after the 2025 campaign, it was clear that if the Pirates wanted to contend, they needed to add offense and improve internal options. Those two things weren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. What emerged was one of the more eventful offensive offseasons we’ve had in a long time. But a rather large debate emerged about the right handed options at the DH spot during that offseason that finally concluded when Andrew McCutchen and Marcell Ozuna were released by their respective teams just hours apart. But the real story goes back many months. Allow me to regale you with the particulars.
Andrew McCutchen is a legendary player in the annals of Piratedom. He revived baseball in our city for a period of time when no one thought it possible. He lit a fire under this fanbase for a good chunk of the 2010s. So much so, I tried leading a campaign for a statue to be built up on Mount Washington of Cutch doing his signature post Pirates win pose named “Cutch the Redeemer”. Some of the complaints were that he hadn’t won a championship, it’s copying Rio de Janiero, and something called heresy. To be continued on the statue.
It was clear after Andrew left, at some point he would retire as a Pittsburgh Pirate. In 2023, as was prophesied, Cutch returned to the Pirates for his much deserved last ride. Unfortunately, the Pirates were very much in the same position as the first time he joined the team as a rookie. He was decently productive for a player in his late 30s and relatively inexpensive.
When 2024 came around, and Cutch hadn’t gotten his fill, the Pirates were happy to bring him back. This season he performed even better, and bonus for the Buccos, outperformed his contract. But, Cutch still had unfinished business. 20 homers is nothing to sneeze at.
Cutch signed with the Pirates again, and to be fair, was still one of the better hitters in our lineup; albeit on some historically bad offenses. But the production dipped, and Cutch was another year older. It was clear that the Pirates wanted to add some offense to go with a young pitching staff they believed could help them get back to the promised land.
Enter young buck Marcell Ozuna. The Pirates inked the right handed slugger to a one year 12 million dollar contract to play on the 2026 team. This signaled to everyone, including Andrew McCutchen that his time playing for the Pirates was over. With the way the starting pitching was shaping up, some of the young offensive players developing, and a bullpen that had yet to reveal its warts, Cutch was not too happy that the Pirates didn’t want him back to once again possibly make the post season (fingers crossed) in black and gold.
In Cutch’s defense, there were questions aplenty with Ozuna’s age and health and he was playing for less than half of what the Pirates gave Ozuna. In the Pirate’s defense, most people seemed to agree, Ozuna had a better shot at being the right handed power bat they desperately needed.
Who would be proven right in the long run?
Ozuna didn’t get off to a hot start. And in April, Cutch was on the Rangers and went 1-3 in the series and the Rangers took 2 of 3. Not looking great. But he, like Cutch, was a notorious slow starter. But he never caught fire. And come trade deadline time, like an insanely expensive version of Tommy Pham (disclaimer 2025 Pham finally started hitting), the Pirates were stuck holding the bag for a player on an expiring contract. Once the deadline passed, and most of Ozuna’s salary already paid aht, the Pirates released Ozuna to make room for someone they feel has a better chance to produce for the team from the right side. To their credit, in years past the Pirates may have continued to try to justify their signing by slogging him out there until a fake injury happened.
So should the Pirates be vilified for not signing Cutch?
Not at all. Signing Cutch even to a team friendly deal seems like it may have been just as disastrous as Ozuna turned out to be. Cutch signed with Texas, was DFA’d, released, signed a minor league deal with Atlanta and was released without ever seeing time with their big league club. Could that have gone differently had he been in familiar territory? Possibly, but I think it was time for the Pirates to move on.
So what do we make of all this?
Turns out, there were no winners in this mess except Ozuna’s bank account and Ronny Simon. Ozuna was not the right handed upgrade this team needed. In his defense, I don’t think he was a paycheck player. I believe he tried his hardest and also added locker room value if you believe the words that emerge from deep inside the confines of the PNC Park clubhouse.
Also, a potential rift has developed between one of our beloved players and former MVPs and the team he once willed out of 21 straight losing seasons. But time heals most wounds. I hope it can be resolved for his sake, the team’s sake, and the fans. He deserves to be celebrated without any negativity looming.
Long story short, we are back to where we started 2026 before it all went down. The Pirates are at .500 (basically) and we still need (more) help from the right side from people not named the Magician. And can we please build that statue!
