On Saturday night, former Pittsburgh Pirate Andrew McCutchen made a fabulous catch in right field for the Texas Rangers.
Andrew McCutchen showing off in season 18 ???? pic.twitter.com/iv2M6g2wFl
— MLB (@MLB) May 4, 2026
That, of course, led to a torrent of “He’s still got it!,” “How do you like him now?,” “See! He can still play the outfield” posts on social media, pandering to be “liked” and begging to be reposted.
That one play by the 39-year-old designated hitter probably isn’t a harbinger of a Gold Glove to come. However, I’m guessing McCutchen feels justified. He always thought he could still play the field a bit in Pittsburgh. That was one of the reasons why he was salty that the Pirates didn’t bring him back for 2026, turning to Marcell Ozuna as a right-handed DH option instead.
Forget the defense, though, the Pirates were right to be leery of McCutchen’s bat too. He’s only hitting .205 with one homer. That’s after batting just .203 from July 1 on in 2025.
Granted, we aren’t in mid-May or early June yet. That’s when McCutchen usually starts to thrive. Plus, Ozuna (.198, 3 HR, .553 OPS) hasn’t been any good either. But to this point, McCutchen’s absence hasn’t been a significant variable in the Pirates’ season.
If Evgeni Malkin leaves the Penguins this summer, we’ll be having a similar conversation. If Malkin departs for another team in 2026-27, I bet we are dwelling more on the emotional damage done by his departure than the loss of on-ice contributions.
After all, what are we talking about replacing for the Penguins? Four power play goals? Fifteen even-strength goals? I mean, Connor Dewar had 13. I’m not hearing much gnashing of teeth over his looming exit.
Comparing the level of productivity between a 39-year-old baseball player and a 39-year-old hockey player isn’t necessarily the point. The larger conversation is about the difficult time we seem to be having watching these recent Pittsburgh sports icons face the prospect of leaving before they think they are done playing here.
McCutchen wanted at least one more year with the Pirates. Malkin just said the same thing last week about staying with the Pens as he approaches free agency.
Unfortunately, neither franchise appears to be on the same timeline. Although in Malkin’s case, there’s still a chance that Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas acquiesces and brings the former Hart Trophy winner back for at least one more campaign.
There was some pearl clutching back here in Western Pa. a few weeks ago when McCutchen put on a mean mug in front of the Pittsburgh media while they were in Texas covering the Pirates. After that, the whole region could see how upset he was that the Pirates didn’t keep him this year.
OK, I get it. But he’ll get over it. Just like Malkin will if he’s angry on the way out the door this summer if he isn’t retained.
Then, someday, a couple of years into their retirements, there will be a night at each of their respective buildings in Pittsburgh to honor their careers and retire their numbers or induct them into the team Hall of Fame — or both.
All will be forgiven and forgotten.
Dubas shouldn’t feel obligated to keep Malkin out of sentiment. Nor should he sacrifice one year of on-ice production in the name of preserving good vibes for the first few years of Malkin’s retirement.
Whenever that might actually occur.
Troy Polamalu went through the same thing for a few years after he left the Steelers. Everything is fine now. Fellow Hall of Famer Franco Harris served as a Steelers team ambassador for decades, despite being released by the Steelers in 1984.
Ben Roethlisberger was ushered into retirement when he felt like there was more to give. He is still in Pittsburgh, around the team and was at the Super Bowl XL reunion this past season. Hines Ward wanted to keep playing after his release in 2012, but got over any residual bitterness.
James Harrison was Public Enemy No. 1 after he forced his way out of town in 2017 and signed with the New England Patriots. Now he leads the Terrible Towel twirl and is on the Acrisure Stadium pregame hype video.
Even Jaromir Jagr and Barry Bonds came back to Pittsburgh in recent years to be honored.
This is just how it goes. All the goodbyes can’t be Jerome Bettis winning a Super Bowl in Detroit or Mario Lemieux getting a standing ovation in Philly while wearing Black and Gold. Quite often, it’s Franco in a Seahawks jersey.
It’s not up to pro franchises to guide players into retirement on their individual timelines. Every team can’t provide a goodbye tour, especially when the players can’t commit to when they want to say goodbye.
Based on McCutchen’s return to Pittsburgh in 2023, and his desire to stay here even in a minimal capacity prior to this season, it’s obvious that feeling important is important to Cutch.
Once he retires, where else is he going to get that? New York? San Francisco? Arlington? Milwaukee? Philly?
C’mon. He was a footnote in those places. He helped write the history of PNC Park here. Same thing with Malkin at PPG Paints Arena.
He’ll go to Florida for a year with the Panthers or look odd in a Lightning jersey in Tampa for a season or two. Maybe he’ll make us puke wearing Flyers orange for a season.
Then he’ll go back to Russia for a little while, miss the applause, come back and see No. 71 hoisted to the rafters. Any ill will be a thing of the past.
That’s how it worked with Jagr, and things haven’t been (and won’t be) close to as messy with Geno.
The same will be said someday about McCutchen — grumpy as he may be right now.
Anyway, that really was a heckuva catch ‘Cutch. See you in right field soon enough again.
Listen: Tim Benz and Phil Bourque talk about Evgeni Malkin’s future on 105.9 The X