Fan favorite Andrew McCutchen leads list of 5 Pirates players who have elected free agency

Andrew McCutchen made it clear that he wants to return for another season with the Pittsburgh Pirates, where the five-time All-Star and 2013 NL MVP is a franchise icon and fan favorite.

Even so, McCutchen leads a list of five Pirates who have elected free agency. He is joined by left-handed relievers Jalen Beeks, Ryan Borucki and Aroldis Chapman and catcher Yasmani Grandal.

The 38-year-old designated hitter batted .232/.328/.411 with 18 doubles, 20 home runs and 50 RBIs in 120 games last season, when he led the Pirates with 58 walks, ranked second in on-base percentage and third in home runs, slugging and OPS.

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington and manager Derek Shelton have advocated for McCutchen’s return next season, given his professional at-bats and clubhouse presence.

“We’ve said before, I’ll say it again: We’d love to find a way for Andrew to finish his career in a Pirates uniform,” Cherington said last month. “That’s as far as we’ve gone to this point. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Andrew since the season ended. I expect I will. I expect we will, and we’ll get into that. We’ll let the season breathe just a little bit and get together with him on that and listen to him and see what makes sense from there.”

After being traded to the San Francisco Giants for outfielder Bryan Reynolds in January 2018, McCutchen played for the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers before signing a one-year, $5 million contract with the Pirates in January 2023. He signed for the same terms last year, a move he considered a formality.

“I wanted to go home, so, hopefully, I can just continue to finish strong in the season and be able to showcase that I can be capable and able to do it next year,” McCutchen said. “Because I can do it. It’s plain and simple. I said this earlier: If I don’t embarrass myself then I’m going to continue keep going and doing it, and if I get the opportunity, I’m going to.

“At the end of the day, that’s me personally. But I would love to win, too. I haven’t done that in a long time, and I haven’t been in the playoffs in a while here, and it would be nice to do it here and we’re a special group of guys. We’re a special team. It’s there. Just got to piece the puzzles.”

The 36-year-old Chapman could be another priority for the Pirates after replacing David Bednar as the closer late in the season. A seven-time All-Star who has 335 career saves, Chapman was 5-5 with a 3.79 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and 14 saves in 61 2/3 innings last season, when he set a major league record for saves by a lefty reliever.

Chapman showed signs of dominance and inconsistency, as he averaged 14.3 strikeouts and 5.7 walks per nine innings. His fastball showed life, as he tied a major league record for fastest recorded strikeout at 104.7 mph against Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres in August.

Grandal, who turns 36 on Nov. 8, showed his value by serving as the personal catcher for the majority of rookie phenom Paul Skenes’ starts and a mentor to Pirates backstops Joey Bart and Henry Davis. Grandal signed a one-year, $2.5 million contract in mid-February but missed most of spring training and the first month of the season with plantar fasciitis and had a slow start at the plate. He batted .228/.304/.400 with 10 doubles, nine homers and 27 RBIs in 72 games.

Borucki, 30, missed a majority of the season with a left triceps injury, which limited him to 11 innings over 14 appearances. He had a 10.6 K/9 rate but a 7.36 ERA and 1.64 WHIP. The Pirates acquired Beeks from the Colorado Rockies at the trade deadline, and the 31-year-old lefty was 1-0 with a 3.92 ERA, 1.79 WHIP and one save in 26 appearances.