The Philadelphia Phillies have signed free agent outfielder Andrew McCutchen to a three-year, $50 million deal with a club option for a fourth year. Matt Gelb of the The Athletic was the first to report the news.
McCutchen, 32, batted .255/.368/.424 with 20 homers, 65 RBI, and 14 steals over 155 games between the Giants and Yankees in 2018. He’ll man a corner outfield spot flanking Odubel Herrera. The Phillies are said to still be looking for another corner outfielder, with Gleb and Ken Rosenthal each reporting that signing McCutchen would not rule out the Phillies’ pursuit of Bryce Harper. The Phillies have also been rumored to be interested in Michael Brantley.
Given how tough the market has been for players over 30 for the past couple of years, this is a pretty significant contract for McCutchen. Of course before, say, 2016, signing a former MVP with a career 134 OPS+ to this sort of contract would not have been seen as all that big a deal.
Times have changed, though, and this deal is a bit surprising. The Phillies have said they are going to spend “stupid money” this winter. This, however reasonable it seems to you or me, probably qualifies as the first salvo on that campaign.