Time for the San Francisco Giants to Pounce on Andrew McCutchen

With Gerrit Cole now gone, it’s clear the Pittsburgh Pirates are in a rebuild. The San Francisco Giants need to jump all over Andrew McCutchen right now.

It’s been rumored for a while now that the Giants have interest in McCutchen, and now that Cole is gone the Pirates can focus on moving the outfielder.

McCutchen is a former MVP who will be in the last year of his contract.

After a disappointing 2016 season, he bounced back nicely in 2017 hitting .279 with 94 runs scored, 30 doubles, 28 home runs, 88 RBI and 11 stolen bases.

The Giants would certainly welcome that kind of production from an outfielder.

A former first round pick back in 2005, he’ll play this season at age 31.

Considering his recent trend and age, I have no desire to try and sign McCutchen long term. To me, he’s a one-year rental that can help us get back to the postseason in 2018.

And if we aren’t contenders at the trade deadline, I feel like we can regain the prospects we would lose by trading for McCutchen.

And that’s the problem with trading for him. The Pirates are going to want an impact prospect in return as they are looking to rebuild. They really don’t have to get rid of their most iconic player who isn’t breaking the bank ($14.5 million in 2018).

Realistically, the Pirates could hold onto McCutchen until the trade deadline and probably get just as good of a package — if not better if McCutchen improves his stock.

Right now there doesn’t seem to be too many teams interested in McCutchen. The only other team I’ve heard that might be interested is the New York Mets, and they just signed Jay Bruce.

The Pirates might wait until there are more suitors, which is why the Giants need to try their best to get him now. The conversation is pretty simple to me. I’d tell the Pirates they can have any one player in our top 10 prospects not named Heliot Ramos.

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I would feel very comfortable giving up anyone not named Ramos for one year of McCutchen. If the Pirates are willing to do that, then let’s get it done.