In Classic Steinbrenner-Era Move, Yankees Add McCutchen
One of the great things about growing up a Yankees fan in the 1990s, aside from all the success, was that it often felt like rooting for a video game team. Time and again, the Yankees ended up with the biggest, most exciting names from around the MLB (at times regardless of how good they actually were or how well they fit with the team) and put together a team of superstars in the same way a kid might in their video game fantasy. In fact, it was a hallmark of George Steinbrenner’s tenure as the team owner- at least during the successful periods- and it was a thrill to get to see huge stars like Randy Johnson, Jason Giambi, and Alex Rodriguez end up in pinstripes. Even lesser players like Kevin Brown, Kevin Youkilis, Javier Vasquez, and AJ Burnett who had great careers elsewhere but were endlessly frustrating as Yankees, were cool to at least see.
Of course, the Yankees being the Yankees, this trend has continued on past the death of the Boss, albeit in a slightly more restrained way. CC Sabathia and of course Giancarlo Stanton are the biggest recent examples of huge outside stars coming to the Bronx but Johnny Damon, Jacoby Ellsbury, and even Chase Headley fit the mold of guys who made names elsewhere but ended up Yankees. Now, we can add Andrew McCutchen to the list.
Last night, the Yankees acquired McCutchen from the San Francisco Giants for a decent prospect, Abiatal Avelino, and a Juan De Paula. McCutchen will presumably, and finally, replace Shane Robinson as Aaron Boone‘s go to 4th outfielder and be the primary fill-in for Aaron Judge until the big bopper returns. McCutchen, of course, is a former MVP and one of the biggest stars in all of baseball so he definitely makes the list of big-name Yankee acquisitions, but this trade doesn’t have a ton in common with the Giambi signing.
McCutchen is batting .255 this season and unfortunately isn’t the player that won the MVP in 2013 and had 4 top 5 finishes from 2012-2015. He’s a free agent at season’s end so the Yankees are only on the hook for $2.4 million for the remainder of the season before Cutch walks away this winter. So if you take the name out of the equation, the Yankees are getting a good defensive corner outfielder who will hit about .260 with some pop for about the going rate for such players.
Of course, being the Yankees, that veteran outfielder happens to be McCutchen and that’s what makes the Yankees so fun. They could have added Travis Jankowski or Scott Schebler or someone similar and that would have accomplished the same goal but instead, they went out and got McCutchen and that’s way more fun.
In Yankeeland today, the joy of adding a former MVP for the stretch run will be tempered by the analysis that adding an outfielder is a signal that Yankees GM Brian Cashman is worried that Aaron Judge might not be back and in good form in short order- a very reasonable worry given the track record of wrist injuries for sluggers. However, I’m not that concerned. Even if Judge is back to his old ways soon, the Yankees will still need to play some really meaningful games without him and running Shane Robinson out there every day needed to stop. With Clint Frazier unfortunately still out, McCutchen is a huge improvement over what the Yankees had internally for the MLB outfield and adding him for $2.4 million and no long-term commitment was a good deal.
And, if Judge does miss more time than we think or come back and struggle, I’d much rather have a playoff outfield of Brett Gardner, Aaron Hicks, and Andrew McCutchen than one with Neil Walker in right field for some reason.
-Max Frankel
