Pirates made worst roster exchange in MLB by ditching Andrew McCutchen originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have had a solid 2026 season so far, but there are still a few things that the team likely regrets about beginning the season.
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More pitching help and offensive upgrades could’ve been nice, but there’s one position decision that the team messed up. That came at designated hitter and a franchise icon.
As USA Today’s Bob Nightengale highlighted, the Pirates’ decision to ditch Andrew McCutchen in favor of Marcell Ozuna was the worst roster exchange by any team this past offseason.
Pirates’ decision to ditch Andrew McCutchen was a big mistake
“Worst exchange, Pittsburgh Pirates… The Pirates unceremoniously dumped Andrew McCutchen, one of the greatest players in franchise history, believing he was no longer useful, even as a part-time DH,” Nightengale writes.
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This decision from the Pirates was a bad move at the time, as the team ditching one of their franchise legends at the tail-end of his career was not a good look for the team.
But things were made even worse by how McCutchen has played compared to how Ozuna has played for the Pirates.
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With the Texas Rangers, McCutchen has a .195 batting average with one homer and five RBIs to go with a .561 OPS. That’s not a good season by any means, but it’s way better than what Ozuna has done.
Ozuna has put up -0.6 bWAR this season across 108 at-bats with three homers, a .185 batting average, and a .560 OPS. He’s also making a lot more than McCutchen, with the Pirates spending $12 million on Ozuna compared to McCutchen’s minimum deal.
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On paper, it’s been a close start to the year for Ozuna and McCutchen. But, adding in the cost to acquire Ozuna compared to McCutchen, and the negative impact on the fan base that ditching McCutchen caused, this was a terrible exchange for the Pirates so far.