Send Him Up

Andrew McCutchen has the special distinction of being one of the very few Pirates first round draft picks that is not a pitcher and has not blown out his arm. McCutchen is currently the starting center fielder at AAA Indianapolis, and his offensive skills are finally starting to catch up to his phenomenal defensive talent. He is clearly a part of the ever rebuilding Pirates' future. Xavier Nady might go on the DL with a sprained left shoulder. If he does go on the DL, the team, in true Pirates fashion, has no plans of calling up McCutchen.

According to Dejan Kovacevic, the Pirates beat writer for the Post-Gazette, if Nady goes on the DL, the team plans to call up Nyjer Morgan, the owner of a whopping .288 on base percentage, instead.

This move, as Pirates moves often do, makes no sense whatsoever. McCutchen's play has been far superior to Morgan's. McCutchen line .284/.367/.437 with 8 homers and 19 steals is far more impressive than Morgan's .241/.288/.277 with no homers and 18 steals. What makes this move even less understandable is the fact that McCutchen is expected to be the center fielder of the future for the Pirates. Morgan is a former 33rd round draft pick who wasn't even supposed to make it as far as he has in his career. Morgan's future with the Pirates is uncertain, and it is uncertain if he is a major league caliber guy at all.

Apparently the Pirates have learned nothing from the Arizona Diamondbacks. What has given Arizona so much success over the past few seasons is their willingness to let young guys test the water. Instead of letting their young players rot in the Minors, they call them up at the first sign of readiness and give them a chance to prove themselves. It's worked out pretty well for them so far. Last year, the Diamondbacks won the NL West and made it to the NLCS. This year, they're again winning the West (by 5.5 games) and have the 3rd most wins in the NL.

Why not give McCutchen a cup of coffee if Nady lands of the DL? The Pirates don't have much to lose. They're two games under .500 and light years away from the division and wild card leads. The team has nothing to lose calling up the guy who's supposed to be the future face of the franchise. Then again, it is the Pirates we're talking about here. What am I so supposed to expect, a move that makes sense?

RomiezzoLegend

528 days ago

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Good point, Farney, and good research. I took a look at Andrew McCutchen's stats after reading your article, and boy, he's got a lot of potential to do a lot for the Pirates. Only 21 years old and he can do just about everything better than Nyjer Morgan. A .284 batting average, and a .359 OBP? That's not bad at all. I would definitely call him up over Morgan if I was the general manager for the Pirates.

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KelsdadAll-Star

528 days ago

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Much different situation in Arizona. The Dbacks had no other options, both their ML and Minor League rosters had turned over and they were pretty much devoid of talent all the way through. In retrospect, some of these guys were promoted too early, and have suffered much more severe growing pains than they should have.

Last year's record was an aberration, no way the Dbacks were (or are) that good, and some of these kids should still be in the minors, or close to it. The Pirates have established ML players on their roster, and are showing signs of turning the franchise around. Bringing up a young kid before he is ready is pointless if there is someone else around to do the job.

And, the Pirates have force fed McCutchen in each of the last two seasons and while he has handled the challenge well, there is a much bigger gap between Triple A and the majors than between Double A and Triple A.

With either Bay or Nady expected to be traded, and possibly both, McCuthen will be up eventually, and in this case later is better than sooner.

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