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While it might not have been the most impactful signing of the MLB offseason so far, a reunion between the Pittsburgh Pirates and veteran slugger Andrew McCutchen could be its most heartwarming.
Several fans on X, formerly Twitter, praised McCutchen for his hilarious and oddly sentimental movie meme announcing his return to the team that drafted him in 2005. The clip from “The Wolf of Wall Street” shows Leonardo DiCaprio’s character yelling, “I’m not leaving!” and “This is my home!” to a room of adoring colleagues.
“Cutch is back! This video makes me want to run through a brick wall,” posted one fan on December 19.
“The baseball world is a better place when cutch is a pirate,” wrote one fan.
“Cutch is one of the easiest players to root for,” posted another.
Andrew McCutchen Signs 1-Year, $5 Million Deal With Pittsburgh Pirates
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GettyPittsburgh Pirates designated hitter Andrew McCutchen rounds the bases
McCutchen made his debut for the Pirates in 2009 and has had one of the most productive careers in recent MLB history, slashing for .276/.369/.465 with 2,048 hits, 1,045 RBIs, 299 homers and 216 steals in 2,007 games.
“Last season, McCutchen recorded his 2,000th career hit on June 11 against the Mets and that made him the 12th player in Pirates history to record 2,000 hits,” Patrick Damp of CBS News wrote on December 20. “He was the first to do it since Willie Stargell did it in 1978.”
The Pirates traded him to the San Francisco Giants in 2018 and he played for the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers before returning to Pittsburgh on a one-year, $5 million contract last season.
After seeing an uptick in production at the plate in 2023 as a designated hitter, McCutchen suffered a partially torn achilles in early September and missed the end of the season. But as his recovery from the injury proceeds, he’s now agreed to another one-year, $5 million deal with the Pirates for 2024, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“In every discussion with Andrew, it was clear we both shared the same strong desire for him to remain a Pirate,” team chairman Bob Nutting said of the deal, per Damp. “He is a tremendous person, player and teammate. He is an all-time great Pirates player who represents our city with a deep sense of pride.”
Fans React to Andrew McCutchen’s Social Media Announcement, Return to Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates are looking to build on a 76-86 record for 2023 that left them in fourth place in the National League Central Division. In addition to bringing back McCutchen, they’ve signed starting pitcher Martin Perez and first baseman Rowdy Tellez.
But without some more major acquisitions, it seems like the Pirates will struggle again in 2024, no matter how many memes their fan-favorite veteran deploys.
“The Pirates look like a 75-win team or so, but one with some players worth watching,” FanGraphs projected. “Even in a weak division, the Bucs would need a lot of luck to be relevant by the stretch drive. If they want to change that in 2024 without spending a lot of money, [General manager] Ben Cherington is going to have to put on his clever cap for the rest of the winter.”
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