Great news from Bradenton this morning with the news that the Pirates and Andrew McCutchen have agreed to a big money ($51.5 million), long term (through 2018) contract. After years of hearing the Nutting/Coonelly/Huntington Troika talk about building and waiting and committing, only to see good players get dealt while we wait for high draft picks to come through the system, today we see, finally, the team commit to one of those guys, McCutchen, who can be the centerpiece of a winning team. After seeing other teams sign deals with young guys like Justin Upton, Jay Bruce, and Ryan Zimmerman, it is a great feeling to see the Pirates sign a similar deal with one of THEIR young stars.
It has been said since he came to the team that Cutch could be the "Face of the Franchise" but who among the fan base, conditioned after so many years of losing and ineptitude, were willing to make the emotional commitment to McCutchen because the thought was always in your mind that the day would come when the Bucs dumped McCutchen some future July 31 for "prospects."
It has also been pointed out that one other thing that this signing will do is that it will send a message to other teams, players, and free agents that the Pirates are serious about winning.
Finally, a great bit of positive news from the Pirates.
OK, now let's see what they can get done with Neil Walker!
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