Kyle Crick is the biggest piece of the disappointing return the Pirates received.
After already acquiring the face of the Tampa Bay Rays, Evan Longoria, earlier this offseason, San Francisco Giants GM Bobby Evans struck again, trading for Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen. In exchange for McCutchen, the Pirates received right-hander Kyle Crick, outfielder and the Giants #5 prospect Bryan Reynolds, and $500,000 in international spending money.
For the Pirates, this trade represents another disappointing haul for GM Neil Huntington following the Gerrit Cole trade to the Astros. Crick, 25, was amongst the top 100 prospects in baseball from 2013-2015 after being picked 49th overall in the 2011 MLB Draft. Under team control until 2023, Crick moved to the bullpen full-time in 2017, posting a 2.76 ERA and 12.0 K/9, although those totals also came with 4.00 BB/9. After receiving a call-up to the majors, Crick threw 32.3 innings with the Giants, pitching to a 3.06 ERA, with 7.8 K/9 and a huge total of 4.7 BB/9. Despite his control issues, Crick does have potential as a bullpen arm, having averaged 95.5 MPH on his average fastball velocity, with an 11 percent swinging-strike rate. Reynolds, 23, may have been one of the Giants top five prospects, but it should be noted that their farm system ranked in the bottom five in all of baseball this season. A second-round pick in 2016, Reynolds hit .312/.364/.462 with 10 home runs, 26 doubles, and nine at the Class-A Advanced level. While Reynolds and Crick do have potential, a middle relief arm and a 23-year-old prospect who has yet to get above A ball is hardly an inspiring return for the unquestioned face and leader of the Pirates.
The effect McCutchen will have on the Giants is a little harder to distinguish due to a variety of factors. Off the field, McCutchen carries a $14.75 salary, although the Pirates are covering $2.5 million of the contract. With needs in the bullpen and for another outfielder, this complicates the Giants spending, as they are currently only about $7 million under the $197 million luxury tax threshold before signing any of their pre-arbitration players, and have been open about their desire to reset their tax number this season. This should take them out of the spending for top free agent Lorenzo Cain, and may even make it difficult to sign the likes of Jarrod Dyson, Jon Jay, and Carlos Gomez. Additionally, the Giants have made no upgrades to a bullpen that finished 19th in the MLB last season with a 4.34 ERA and 29th with 458 strikeouts, and likely now do not have the financial wiggle room to do so.
Offensively, McCutchen, 31, should be a big upgrade for the Giants. After getting off to a dreadful start to the year, hitting .244/.327/.407 in April and .206/.280/.402 in May, McCutchen rebounded in June, hitting .411/.505/.689 with 6 HR and 23 RBI. Over the course of his last 111 games, McCutchen hit .313/.400/.540 with 146 WRC+, and his 156 games played would have led the Giants outfield by 22 games. McCutchen should be an immediate boost to a Giants outfield that hit a combined .253/.311/.374 last season, and when you compare McCutchen’s 2017 season to that of the Giants three main outfielders from last year, his offensive output is far and above the best.
McCutchen: 2.5 WAR, 156 G, 94 R, 159 H, 39 2B, 28 HR, 88 RBI, 73 BB, .279/.363/.486
Hunter Pence: 0.3 WAR, 134 G, 55 R, 128 H, 13 2B, 13 HR, 67 RBI, 40 BB, .260/.315/.385
Denard Span: -1.1 WAR, 129 G, 73 R, 135 H, 31 2B, 12 HR, 43 RBI, 40 BB, .272/.329/.427
Jarrett Parker: 0.6 WAR, 51 G, 24 R, 41 H, 12 2B, 4 HR, 23 RBI, 10 BB, .247/.294/.416
Combined, McCutchen had 2.7 more WAR than the entire Giants outfield last season, and was one home run away from out homering the entire group. With McCutchen and Longoria in the fold, the new and improved Giants lineup should look something like this.
1. Andrew McCutchen
2. Brandon Belt
3. Buster Posey
4. Evan Longoria
5. Hunter Pence
6. Brandon Crawford
7. Joe Panik
8. Jarrett Parker
9. Pitcher
While McCutchen should be a big offensive boost for the Giants, it’s how he fits in defensively with the team that is a big question mark. Last season, Giants outfielders combined for -45 Defensive Runs Saved, with the since traded Denard Span making up -27 of that total. However, McCutchen, his presumed replacement, was not great defensively last season either, totaling -14 DRS, although he did have a positive mark of 2 DRS in his thirteen games in right field. Giants Manger Bruce Bochy has publically stated that McCutchen will move to right field next season, where he should regain some of his defensive value; however, that move will require Hunter Pence to move to left field, a position he has never played since reaching the major leagues. Even in right field last season, Pence was worth -3 DRS, and moving to an entirely new position should only hurt his defensive value further. While projected center fielder Jarrett Parker was worth 6 DRS last season, he has only played five career games in center field, making it unknown if his value will translate over from a corner outfield spot.
Overall, McCutchen’s offensive value should be high enough to offset his defensive skill set in what has quickly become one of baseball’s better lineups on paper. Really, where McCutchen has the most value to the Giants this season is as a clubhouse presence for a team that went 64-98 last season. McCutchen knows what it’s like to have been on a losing team, as the Pirates never won above 79 games in his first four years with the team from 2009-2012, bottoming out at 57 wins in 2010. On the flip side, he also knows that it is possible to rebound from one year to the next, as the Pirates rode his MVP season in 2013 to 94 wins and their first playoff appearance in two decades. Needless to say, if there is anyone who knows that a new season represents a fresh start, and can come in and lead a clubhouse right away in San Francisco, it’s Andrew McCutchen.
