McCutchen Describes Tough Feeling After Getting Traded<\/p>\n
There isn’t a better Pirates player in the 21st century than McCutchen<\/a>, and his play was a direct result of the team winning once again, after two decades of losing.<\/p>\n McCutchen earned five straight All-Star nods, 2011-15, four consecutive Silver Slugger Awards, 2012-15, a Gold Glove Award in 2012, the Roberto Clemente Award<\/a> in 2015 and the National League MVP in 2013.<\/p>\n Mar 31, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates former shortstop Dick Groat (left) and former outfielder Barry Bonds (middle) present Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen (22) with the 2013 National League MVP award prior to the Pirates hosting the Chicago Cubs in an opening day baseball game at PNC Park. The Pirates won 1-0 in ten innings. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n He also helped the Pirates make the postseason in three straight seasons, 2013-15, and they were one win away from the NLCS in 2013.<\/p>\n McCutchen was in the final year of his contract, a six-year, $51.5 million contract extension he signed in 2012, with the Pirates exercising a $14.5 million club option before they traded him.<\/p>\n It was a shocking decision for McCutchen, who envisioned staying with the Pirates the rest of his career.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think people sometimes realize how we\u2019re human,” McCutchen said. “We\u2019re human beings at the end of the day, and when you create relationships with people and things, you come attached in a way to where, if you don\u2019t have it, it\u2019s emotional.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t even realize how emotionally I was attached to the franchise in Pittsburgh until I was traded because I was under the mindset that, at least for me, at least this is the want that I had, I never wanted to leave.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I was like, \u201cThis is a place where I feel comfortable. I had created some great relationships here, had good experiences, have won here, lost here, got to know a lot of people and then, boom, I\u2019m traded.<\/p>\n “I cried like a baby for two days. I was literally upstairs. My wife is hugging me and consoling me. I\u2019m doing one of those shoulders, it\u2019s one of those cries, just ugly cry and I\u2019m sitting there, like and I\u2019m looking at her like, \u201cI didn\u2019t know I would get so emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n “It affected me in a way, emotionally, to where I was like, \u201cMan. I didn\u2019t want to go anywhere else,\u201d and I have to change this mindset of just where I wanted to be, but obviously, this is a business so I have to be able to give everything that I have to this franchise that I\u2019m going to next, which was with the Giants.”\u00a0<\/p>\n How McCutchen Adjusted to Getting Traded<\/p>\n McCutchen was in a weird position after joining the Giants, as he had never played for another ball club and needed to get used to playing somewhere else.<\/p>\n He played 130 games for the Giants, before they traded him to the Yankees, then played for the Philadelphia Phillies (2019-21) and the Milwaukee Brewers (2022), before returning to the Pirates for his last stint<\/a> (2023-25).<\/p>\n Aug 4, 2018; Phoenix, AZ, USA; San Francisco Giants center fielder Andrew McCutchen (22) hits an RBI double during the ninth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. The hit was the fifth of the game for McCutchen. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n McCutchen learned what it’s like for other players in MLB, changing teams and adjusting to new surroundings, and realized that as long as his love for baseball never died, he could play anywhere.<\/p>\n “So I remember going there, and it was different; it was different,” McCutchen said. “It took me a little bit to really get comfortable. I wasn\u2019t necessarily all the way comfortable that I was in Pittsburgh and I feel like that\u2019s the one thing that guys have to understand, especially guys that play. It\u2019s different, it\u2019s hard\u2026”<\/p>\n \u201cBut at the same time you realize, or at least I did, I realized that, as upset that I am and even at times I was frustrated, having to leave one franchise for another, something I didn\u2019t ask for, I had to realize that I need to be able to give, if I want to succeed and continue to play this game and do it well, at the end of the day, I got to get my emotions in check and I got to be able to be ready to give everything that I have to the Giants now and it\u2019s probably not going to feel the same and that was the thing that I needed to realize and what I did realize was, it\u2019s not going to feel the same way that it did in Pittsburgh and that\u2019s okay.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think, a lot of times, what we do as players is, we go from one place that we were and we go to the next and we try to make it feel exactly like the other place because there\u2019s some comfortablity there. There\u2019s comfort for yourself and it helps you to accept that, \u201cYou know what, it was okay that I was over there, at least I feel the same over here too,\u201d and that\u2019s not true. It\u2019s never like that.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Everywhere you go, you have different experiences and there\u2019s a reason you have those experiences.<\/p>\n “I had to realize, look, I spent from the time that I was 18 till the time that I left there at 30. I\u2019m going to feel a certain way about that franchise in many ways. So this one I\u2019m probably going to feel a little different and that\u2019s okay.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Just go there and be myself as best as I can. Create relationships and do what I\u2019ve always done: that\u2019s just play the game the best that I can, have fun doing it, get to know my teammates, my family, just all of that and understanding, who knows how long you\u2019re going to be there. Just need to do what I can to succeed and that\u2019s what I tried to do as best as I could when I was there.<\/p>\n “I love the franchise and I had a good time there with the franchise. It was a good team to go to. It was about the best team I could\u2019ve went to for me at that time. We obviously didn\u2019t get to where we wanted to go, but I enjoyed my time there as a Giant, because I just never thought I\u2019d play.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Pittsburgh](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/01m59fjv72gdbym262rg.jpg\" "\\"Pittsburgh")
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