Where will Andrew McCutchen sign now that he’s not with the Philadelphia Phillies?
Our long national (pastime) nightmare is over; Major League Baseball and the Players’ Union have reached an agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, meaning the lockout will finally end.
After 99 of the longest days in the history of days, baseball is back.
And now, Andrew McCutchen wants to know which team’s uniform he’ll be wearing in 2022.
The Philadelphia Phillies did not pick up the outfielder’s club option after the 2021 season, exercising his buyout instead, thereby rendering him a free agent. So, for the last three months and change, McCutchen has been a baseball player without a team.
As soon as MLB lifts the lockout, that can change, and McCutchen is understandably eager to know where he’s headed.
Welp, where am I signing? 😂😅
— Andrew McCutchen (@TheCUTCH22) March 10, 2022
Like several other MLB players who had changed their profile pictures to the faceless generic MLB deployed (federal labor law prohibits employers from using employees’ photos, likenesses, names, etc. during a lockout), McCutchen gave himself a new Twitter photo.
players are changing their pics back and Cutch immediately won pic.twitter.com/qFCiiaxnTw
— Gabrielle (@gfstarr1) March 10, 2022
Fans were quick to notice that it’s from his Pittsburgh Pirate days, and wondered if he was dropping a hint at reuniting with his longtime team. McCutchen shut down reports of a Pirates reunion months ago, though anything is possible now that the lockout is over.
McCutchen is coming off a solid offensive season in which he hit .222/.334/.444 with a .778 OPS over 144 games. His 27 home runs were the most he’s hit since 2017, and included his first grand slam since that year. He also slugged 24 doubles, a triple, scored 78 runs, and drove in 80 more.
Now that MLB is implementing the Universal DH, McCutchen will certainly have more suitors. His defense leaves something to be desired, but he still a lot to offer teams at the plate.