The Pittsburgh Pirates made some very good moves during the offseason, most of which I agreed with.
However, while I understood why the team moved on from Andrew McCutchen in a sense, and gave a chance to Marcell Ozuna, as Ozuna is younger and might have more in the tank at this stage of his career, I can also fully understand why fans didn't love or agree with the decision.
Ozuna, who was once one of the top power hitters in Major League Baseball, has struggled a bit at times throughout the 2026 campaign. On the flip side, the Pirates already knew what they were going to get out of McCutchen at this stage of his career, and that doesn't take away from what he did earlier in his life. However, he's hitting just .207 in 29 at-bats and has 14 strikeouts.
Regardless, the decision was made, and with the Pirates currently taking on the Texas Rangers, which McCutchen is now playing for, it gave him an opportunity to speak about how he feels to this day and everything that happened.
Instead of still being upset about it, he admitted that during the initial stage, he was frustrated, but he's in the big leagues now and is just happy to be with a team that seemingly will give him a chance to play, even if it's sparingly.
"Maybe in the heat of the time it was a little different, but at this point now, it's not really different," McCutchen said, per the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. "It's just another day at the ballpark. Yeah it's not much emotion compared to the first time when I was traded and stuff. Just another day at the ballpark, I guess. It was good to catch up with people and see how they're doing. Past that, basically it."
"I'm in the major leagues, I'm here and I have a role," McCutchen said. "I'm trying to do my best to learn through that role and the opportunities I'm given. Just being ready. It's crazy that at my age I can still be learning stuff. That's what I'm doing. I've been given a general role. I know what it is. I've just got to go out there and give my best to do it. It's good overall. Just to be in position to help a ball club and also be in the major leagues. There's nothing better than that."
McCutchen obviously is in the league for different reasons nowadays. He's still a very well-respected veteran, and there's something to be said about that. However, he's going to need to play a bit better if he wants to stick around in Texas, no matter how he wants to put it.