Andrew McCutchen thread

[brewers888]

Since we have one on Cain I thought we could use one on another struggling player who is in the lineup everyday regardless of performance and thats Andrew McCutchen. Counsell seems to really love his veterans and has relied on McCutchen as an everyday player when it has been clear that he cannot hit righties at all for several seasons now.

I think once Renfroe is back the DH spot should be a platoon with McCutchen only starting against lefties and Hiura getting the at bats vs righties. We need to see if Hiura can hold down the job or if we need to acquire a legitimate middle of the order bat to play some outfield and get at bats as a DH.

I would bring Yelich into the conversation but we really have no choice but to play him nearly everyday and hope for the best.

[Dragonbait]

Big difference I've seen, is McCutchen has been hitting the ball hard (at least during the Cubs series that I saw) but they were right at people. Mind you, the evidence I have is my watching, I have no stats to back up my claim.

[Outlander]

I was encouraged when he initially came back. His first seven games back he hit 321/387/464/851. However since then he has somehow managed a 000/000/000 in six games and 26 at bats, including three double plays.

[Samurai Bucky]

 

[Robocaller]

I didn't mind the McCutchen signing, but he's not being used in a way to maximize his value (few starts against RHP). Things might improve when Renfroe gets back, but McCutchen was an everyday starter when Renfroe was playing.

 

[Jopal78]

1 hour ago, brewers888 said:

Since we have one on Cain I thought we could use one on another struggling player who is in the lineup everyday regardless of performance and thats Andrew McCutchen. Counsell seems to really love his veterans and has relied on McCutchen as an everyday player when it has been clear that he cannot hit righties at all for several seasons now.

I think once Renfroe is back the DH spot should be a platoon with McCutchen only starting against lefties and Hiura getting the at bats vs righties. We need to see if Hiura can hold down the job or if we need to acquire a legitimate middle of the order bat to play some outfield and get at bats as a DH.

I would bring Yelich into the conversation but we really have no choice but to play him nearly everyday and hope for the best.

Why would you say "Counsell loves his veterans"? The Brewers have a banged up roster right now and a short bench as a result. Certainly in the Cubs series Counsell played  the match-ups regardless of "veteran status"

Last night, Justin Steele, a lefty, started and Counsell played his left handed platoon players-- Brosseau and McCutchen. Later when Steele left the game, he replaced Brosseau with Peterson. Hiura was already in the game at 2nd due to an injury to Wong leaving Narvaez is the only player on the bench.  McCutchen had to hit against righties because there was nobody else available, it happens when teams have players with day to day injuries. 

In game 2 of the double header, McCutchen played the entire game in LF. The Cubs started Drew Smyly another lefty.  Hiura was already in the lineup at 1B and Tellez at DH. Counsell gave Yelich the night off, Mathias, Peterson, Wong all played, leaving Narvaez the only available player so McCutchen hit against righties. 

In Game 1 of the double header, McCutchen was on the bench and came into PH for Jace Peterson when the Cubs went to Daniel Norris--yet another lefty. Due to a short bench again, he stayed in the game and hit against Gsellman, a righty, in the ninth.

Against the Cardinals he hit against Wainwright, which was probably due to having a career .865 OPS against him. With Keston Hiura finally showing some life offensively, if Renfroe was healthy the manager would likely play the match ups. Right now, he doesn't have a ton of options with 12 hitters and nine positions to fill nightly. 

 

[brewers888]

2 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

Why would you say "Counsell loves his veterans"? The Brewers have a banged up roster right now and a short bench as a result. Certainly in the Cubs series Counsell played  the match-ups regardless of "veteran status"

Last night, Justin Steele, a lefty, started and Counsell played his left handed platoon players-- Brosseau and McCutchen. Later when Steele left the game, he replaced Brosseau with Peterson. Hiura was already in the game at 2nd due to an injury to Wong leaving Narvaez is the only player on the bench.  McCutchen had to hit against righties because there was nobody else available, it happens when teams have players with day to day injuries. 

In game 2 of the double header, McCutchen played the entire game in LF. The Cubs started Drew Smyly another lefty.  Hiura was already in the lineup at 1B and Tellez at DH. Counsell gave Yelich the night off, Mathias, Peterson, Wong all played, leaving Narvaez the only available player so McCutchen hit against righties. 

In Game 1 of the double header, McCutchen was on the bench and came into PH for Jace Peterson when the Cubs went to Daniel Norris--yet another lefty. Due to a short bench again, he stayed in the game and hit against Gsellman, a righty, in the ninth.

Against the Cardinals he hit against Wainwright, which was probably due to having a career .865 OPS against him. With Keston Hiura finally showing some life offensively, if Renfroe was healthy the manager would likely play the match ups. Right now, he doesn't have a ton of options with 12 hitters and nine positions to fill nightly. 

 

McCutchen has started nearly every game he has been available despite the fact that he hasn't hit righties in years. Not only that but he has been locked into the cleanup spot against righties.

[Jopal78]

1 hour ago, brewers888 said:

McCutchen has started nearly every game he has been available despite the fact that he hasn't hit righties in years. Not only that but he has been locked into the cleanup spot against righties.

I guess you can just  shake your fist at the idiot manager and be angry. The facts are Counsell has played the matchups and gone with the hot-hands which is what a manager should do. Yeah, he played McCutchen at DH against righties when Hiura was striking out 50% of the time as would just about every manager when confronted with two less than optimal choices. Now he's playing McCutchen every night because there are two regulars on the IL and Wong  is day to day with an injury, doesn't have much choice unless he plays both Narvaez and Caratini in the same lineup. 

[SRB]

Although vociferous, you can't entirely disagree with brewers888 on the questionable logic at play. Over his last 866 PA vs. RHP (start of 2019), McCutchen has hit just .216/.309/.375/.685, .299 wOBA. While far from catastrophic, that's not great production for an everyday DH or corner OF. And yet, even with his extended absence due to Covid, he has the fourth most PA against RHP in the team. McCutchen has 118 PA, Hiura still has just 39.

Perhaps some of the blame goes to Stearns here, but I do think it is difficult to justify starting McCutchen regularly against RHP other than because of his contract/name. I get that we have a small bench, but it would even be better to give Jace Peterson starts at DH vs. RHP. (Since 2019, Peterson has a .313 wOBA vs. RHP.)

[monty57]

I get why the Brewers signed McCutchen this offseason. They freed up a little bit of money by trading JBJ, but they're going to be way over budget next season with the arby raises, so the number of available bats who would sign for one year / $8.5M was probably limited and McCutchen was a decent gamble.

To this point, the gamble has not paid off. He's not hitting against anyone (67 wRC+ vs LHP, 60 vs RHP), but he does have a good history vs LHP in recent years so there is reason to believe that he should start hitting against lefties. Jopal has a point about the injuries, but as the team gets healthy, Hiura and McCutchen should be a strict platoon at DH.  This is going to severely limit McCutchen's playing time, as Taylor has played well enough to win the CF spot and Cain will probably get any OF starts when guys need days off. 

He may not be what we hoped for when he signed this offseason, but he can help win games for the Brewers as a platoon DH and pinch hitter. We're playing for a pennant, so we need to do what's best for the team right now. McCutchen starting every day is not the best thing for this team right now.

[Jopal78]

1 hour ago, SRB said:

Although vociferous, you can't entirely disagree with brewers888 on the questionable logic at play. Over his last 866 PA vs. RHP (start of 2019), McCutchen has hit just .216/.309/.375/.685, .299 wOBA. While far from catastrophic, that's not great production for an everyday DH or corner OF. And yet, even with his extended absence due to Covid, he has the fourth most PA against RHP in the team. McCutchen has 118 PA, Hiura still has just 39.

Perhaps some of the blame goes to Stearns here, but I do think it is difficult to justify starting McCutchen regularly against RHP other than because of his contract/name. I get that we have a small bench, but it would even be better to give Jace Peterson starts at DH vs. RHP. (Since 2019, Peterson has a .313 wOBA vs. RHP.)

I'm sorry, but I don't believe anyone as being serious when they suggest the Brewers actually  play certain players because of their "name". I can maybe accept playing someone because of their contract,  but even there Lorenzo Cain is the Brewers 2nd highest paid player and he was losing time to Tyrone Taylor before Renfroe was injured. However, given the video tape, analytics, etc. that teams use today its preposterous to suggest a contending team like Milwaukee is playing certain players because of their "name".

Let's not forget the season has barely passed the 1/4 mark. In such a small amount of games it's hard to draw any conclusions.  I can tell you in the week immediately before McCutchen got COVID (dating back to 4/28) he batted .281 with a double, 2 homers and 8 RBI which would give no reason to not play him. Earlier in April, Hiura as the other half of their intended DH platoon was whiffing in 50% of his at bats and was not driving the ball when he did hit it. With a team scuffles at the plate when not hitting homers, it's an easy decision to put a player who can't put the ball in play on the bench (Hiura still has 31 Ks in 64 at bats, to McCutchen's 39 in over 150 ABs).

As someone mentioned earlier and pointed out by someone else, McCutchen is on a bargain rate 8.5 million dollar one year contract for a reason. They aren't expecting him to be the guy he was 10 years ago, they're expecting him to be the close to the guy he was last year. As they get healthier, I'm sure Counsell will go back to playing the matchups and going with whomever is swinging a hot bat.

 

[NBBrewFan]

13 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

Let's not forget the season has barely passed the 1/4 mark. In such a small amount of games it's hard to draw any conclusions. 

Actually we are closer to the 1/3rd mark than we are to the 1/4th mark and I believe the numbers for McCutcheon against RHP over the last few years has been well documented.  I think the irritation that McCutcheon was getting so many starts against RHP, when it is clear his days of owning or even renting them is over, morphed into a general irritation with McCutcheon.  It really isn't his fault that he's consistently been put in a position to fail, it's the manager's. And if they made a deal to play him 90% of the time he's available when they signed him then that's on management up and down.

 

13 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

As someone mentioned earlier and pointed out by someone else, McCutchen is on a bargain rate 8.5 million dollar one year contract for a reason. They aren't expecting him to be the guy he was 10 years ago, they're expecting him to be the close to the guy he was last year. As they get healthier, I'm sure Counsell will go back to playing the matchups and going with whomever is swinging a hot bat.

The most positive projection systems now have him at about 0.6 WAR for the season as he's at -0.6 NOW. I don't think the Brewers ever wanted to spend $8.5M for 0.6 WAR.  That's just foolish for a small market team and not what they expected. He could make it to 1 WAR, but they need to stop rolling up the negative WAR by slotting him in against almost every frickin' RHP. And as I said above, CC hasn't played matchup with McCutchen (or Hiura or Taylor or Cain or Renfroe) yet, so why do you expect him to change?

[JohnBriggs12]

9 hours ago, Dragonbait said:

Big difference I've seen, is McCutchen has been hitting the ball hard (at least during the Cubs series that I saw) but they were right at people. Mind you, the evidence I have is my watching, I have no stats to back up my claim.

He has occasionally hit a ball decent but not consistently and this is a guy that hit 27 HR last year.  His power has all but disappeared

[Jopal78]

5 hours ago, NBBrewFan said:

Actually we are closer to the 1/3rd mark than we are to the 1/4th mark and I believe the numbers for McCutcheon against RHP over the last few years has been well documented.  I think the irritation that McCutcheon was getting so many starts against RHP, when it is clear his days of owning or even renting them is over, morphed into a general irritation with McCutcheon.  It really isn't his fault that he's consistently been put in a position to fail, it's the manager's. And if they made a deal to play him 90% of the time he's available when they signed him then that's on management up and down.

 

The most positive projection systems now have him at about 0.6 WAR for the season as he's at -0.6 NOW. I don't think the Brewers ever wanted to spend $8.5M for 0.6 WAR.  That's just foolish for a small market team and not what they expected. He could make it to 1 WAR, but they need to stop rolling up the negative WAR by slotting him in against almost every frickin' RHP. And as I said above, CC hasn't played matchup with McCutchen (or Hiura or Taylor or Cain or Renfroe) yet, so why do you expect him to change?

Who would you have them play instead? Let’s not have any nonsense about Hiura and his splits; because no manager in the league is/was going to pencil in a guy striking out 50% of the time. 

As for the contract,  take a look around the league. Good veteran hitters get 10 million a year or more. For less, you get the McCutchens, Joe Pedersons,  and Eddie Rosario’s. 
 

 

 

[SRB]

On 6/1/2022 at 5:03 PM, Jopal78 said:

As someone mentioned earlier and pointed out by someone else, McCutchen is on a bargain rate 8.5 million dollar one year contract for a reason. They aren't expecting him to be the guy he was 10 years ago, they're expecting him to be the close to the guy he was last year. As they get healthier, I'm sure Counsell will go back to playing the matchups and going with whomever is swinging a hot bat.

 

I don't have a problem with the contract. My point is just that, even if we expect him to hit like the guy he was last year (or the last few years), I don't see much justification for starting him at DH vs RHP. The reason he is worth $8.5 million is that he has absolutely obliterated LHP prior to this season. His overall line in 2021 was decent despite a .286 wOBA vs. RHP, because he had a ridiculous .429 wOBA vs. LHP. A short-side platoon guy can still be good value on Cutch's contract if he is one of the best hitters in baseball against LHP (an area of weakness for the team coming into this year).

[MVP2110]

Finally Cutch comes through!

[Brewcrew82]

McCutchen is a guy who's gotten a lot of hate recently due to his long hitless streak. However, he was actually hitting quite well before that, which coincided with his return from the COVID IL. In fact, he even got his OPS above .700. Here's hoping that his game winning hit tonight is the spark that leads to a return to that kind of form. We love you, Cutch! 

[torts]

as the resident Pittsburgh fan, I want to just share this nugget about the McClutchen... which is, as summer arrives, so does his bat.  here are his career numbers 

I	Split	G	GS	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
	April/March	290	288	1264	1091	163	263	55	6	36	131	39	14	153	253	.241	.338	.402	.739
	May	312	307	1360	1181	180	336	68	7	45	149	35	9	157	251	.285	.371	.468	.839
	June	301	295	1289	1129	192	354	76	13	45	200	37	12	133	239	.314	.390	.524	.913
	July	268	264	1161	1001	165	287	57	8	51	160	26	9	134	217	.287	.373	.513	.886
	August	304	291	1288	1107	173	305	51	6	43	158	37	20	161	230	.276	.370	.449	.819
	Sept/Oct	337	331	1448	1213	201	328	67	9	54	160	28	16	204	277	.270	.381	.474	.855

 

and where is he so far this year?

Split	G	GS	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
April/March	21	21	91	82	8	19	4	0	2	10	3	2	6	22	.232	.286	.354	.639
May	17	16	76	72	8	14	2	0	1	7	0	0	4	17	.194	.237	.264	.501
June	13	13	55	48	6	14	1	0	1	8	2	0	6	10	.292	.382	.375	.757

 

he is not going to produce to that level this year, but he is 1000% known to be a slow starter and really pick up when the weather gets warmer/hotter/muggier.  here is his career June and July months.. i BREWLIEVE he will perform closer to his average by month than he did in May.  

Also, kudos to this forum to allow such great cut/paste of baseball reference data  

JUNE

I	Year	G	GS	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+	sOPS+
	2009	25	25	117	109	16	31	4	5	1	18	4	0	7	19	.284	.333	.440	.774	48	0	1	0	0	1	0	.337	85	110
	2010	26	26	110	94	20	26	6	3	1	10	7	2	15	19	.277	.373	.436	.809	41	1	0	0	1	0	1	.333	99	121
	2011	27	26	115	95	18	33	8	0	2	14	5	1	15	20	.347	.447	.495	.942	47	1	3	1	1	1	3	.419	131	168
	2012	27	27	119	108	19	40	8	2	7	26	4	1	10	25	.370	.420	.676	1.096	73	0	0	0	1	3	1	.429	127	196
	2013	25	24	111	99	15	30	10	0	2	15	2	1	9	20	.303	.378	.465	.843	46	1	3	0	0	1	0	.364	85	137
	2014	26	26	117	105	19	36	12	0	8	25	5	0	12	24	.343	.410	.686	1.096	72	2	0	0	0	3	0	.384	127	209
	2015	25	25	109	92	12	31	8	1	2	15	2	0	13	20	.337	.422	.511	.933	47	1	2	0	2	1	0	.403	110	163
	2016	26	26	106	99	8	20	3	0	3	9	1	3	7	30	.202	.255	.323	.578	32	2	0	0	0	1	0	.258	51	53
	2017	26	26	109	90	22	37	5	1	6	23	1	1	17	12	.411	.505	.689	1.194	62	2	1	0	1	0	0	.425	181	209
	2018	28	26	120	109	19	33	7	1	6	17	2	2	6	27	.303	.342	.551	.892	60	3	2	0	3	0	1	.342	123	144
	2019	3	3	9	8	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.125	.222	.125	.347	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	.143	-14	-3
	2021	24	22	92	73	18	22	4	0	6	20	2	1	15	12	.301	.424	.603	1.027	44	1	2	0	2	1	1	.281	163	177
	2022	13	13	55	48	6	14	1	0	1	8	2	0	6	10	.292	.382	.375	.757	18	1	1	0	0	0	0	.351	145	113

JULY

I	Year	G	GS	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+	sOPS+
	2009	25	25	113	101	17	28	10	0	2	7	5	0	10	23	.277	.345	.436	.781	44	1	1	0	1	0	2	.338	87	109
	2010	18	18	76	67	8	17	4	0	1	8	2	1	6	9	.254	.303	.358	.661	24	1	0	0	3	0	1	.267	63	80
	2011	26	26	112	94	11	24	8	2	4	22	1	1	15	17	.255	.357	.511	.868	48	1	1	0	2	1	3	.267	110	140
	2012	25	24	104	92	22	41	4	1	7	15	0	3	12	16	.446	.510	.739	1.249	68	1	0	0	0	2	1	.493	161	239
	2013	26	25	112	98	16	32	4	2	6	17	5	1	13	19	.327	.402	.592	.994	58	3	0	0	1	2	0	.351	116	179
	2014	26	26	114	100	16	28	6	3	5	16	5	1	11	22	.280	.360	.550	.910	55	1	2	0	1	2	1	.311	89	156
	2015	25	25	110	94	17	27	5	0	6	21	0	0	15	27	.287	.382	.532	.914	50	1	0	0	1	2	1	.339	104	153
	2016	22	22	98	89	15	22	4	0	3	11	1	0	5	25	.247	.306	.393	.699	35	4	3	0	1	1	2	.307	83	91
	2017	24	24	106	87	22	28	6	0	8	19	3	0	16	16	.322	.434	.667	1.101	58	0	2	0	1	3	1	.313	157	188
	2018	24	24	109	88	6	20	2	0	2	7	3	2	16	17	.227	.358	.318	.676	28	2	3	0	2	0	0	.254	72	86
	2020	2	2	9	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000	-100	-100
	2021	25	23	98	82	15	20	4	0	7	17	1	0	15	23	.244	.357	.549	.906	45	4	0	0	1	0	0	.245	131	142

[Brewcrew82]

24 minutes ago, torts said:

as the resident Pittsburgh fan, I want to just share this nugget about the McClutchen... which is, as summer arrives, so does his bat.  here are his career numbers 

I	Split	G	GS	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
	April/March	290	288	1264	1091	163	263	55	6	36	131	39	14	153	253	.241	.338	.402	.739
	May	312	307	1360	1181	180	336	68	7	45	149	35	9	157	251	.285	.371	.468	.839
	June	301	295	1289	1129	192	354	76	13	45	200	37	12	133	239	.314	.390	.524	.913
	July	268	264	1161	1001	165	287	57	8	51	160	26	9	134	217	.287	.373	.513	.886
	August	304	291	1288	1107	173	305	51	6	43	158	37	20	161	230	.276	.370	.449	.819
	Sept/Oct	337	331	1448	1213	201	328	67	9	54	160	28	16	204	277	.270	.381	.474	.855

 

and where is he so far this year?

Split	G	GS	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
April/March	21	21	91	82	8	19	4	0	2	10	3	2	6	22	.232	.286	.354	.639
May	17	16	76	72	8	14	2	0	1	7	0	0	4	17	.194	.237	.264	.501
June	13	13	55	48	6	14	1	0	1	8	2	0	6	10	.292	.382	.375	.757

 

he is not going to produce to that level this year, but he is 1000% known to be a slow starter and really pick up when the weather gets warmer/hotter/muggier.  here is his career June and July months.. i BREWLIEVE he will perform closer to his average by month than he did in May.  

Also, kudos to this forum to allow such great cut/paste of baseball reference data  

JUNE

I	Year	G	GS	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+	sOPS+
	2009	25	25	117	109	16	31	4	5	1	18	4	0	7	19	.284	.333	.440	.774	48	0	1	0	0	1	0	.337	85	110
	2010	26	26	110	94	20	26	6	3	1	10	7	2	15	19	.277	.373	.436	.809	41	1	0	0	1	0	1	.333	99	121
	2011	27	26	115	95	18	33	8	0	2	14	5	1	15	20	.347	.447	.495	.942	47	1	3	1	1	1	3	.419	131	168
	2012	27	27	119	108	19	40	8	2	7	26	4	1	10	25	.370	.420	.676	1.096	73	0	0	0	1	3	1	.429	127	196
	2013	25	24	111	99	15	30	10	0	2	15	2	1	9	20	.303	.378	.465	.843	46	1	3	0	0	1	0	.364	85	137
	2014	26	26	117	105	19	36	12	0	8	25	5	0	12	24	.343	.410	.686	1.096	72	2	0	0	0	3	0	.384	127	209
	2015	25	25	109	92	12	31	8	1	2	15	2	0	13	20	.337	.422	.511	.933	47	1	2	0	2	1	0	.403	110	163
	2016	26	26	106	99	8	20	3	0	3	9	1	3	7	30	.202	.255	.323	.578	32	2	0	0	0	1	0	.258	51	53
	2017	26	26	109	90	22	37	5	1	6	23	1	1	17	12	.411	.505	.689	1.194	62	2	1	0	1	0	0	.425	181	209
	2018	28	26	120	109	19	33	7	1	6	17	2	2	6	27	.303	.342	.551	.892	60	3	2	0	3	0	1	.342	123	144
	2019	3	3	9	8	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.125	.222	.125	.347	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	.143	-14	-3
	2021	24	22	92	73	18	22	4	0	6	20	2	1	15	12	.301	.424	.603	1.027	44	1	2	0	2	1	1	.281	163	177
	2022	13	13	55	48	6	14	1	0	1	8	2	0	6	10	.292	.382	.375	.757	18	1	1	0	0	0	0	.351	145	113

JULY

																		0	.000	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000	-100	-100
	2021	25	23	98	82	15	20	4	0	7	17	1	0	15	23	.244	.357	.549	.906	45	4	0	0	1	0	0	.245	131	142

Why I keep saying that the people who want to lump him into the "finished category" with Cain are pretty clearly in the wrong. He's not the player he was in his prime, for sure, but he's still the player he's been over the past few years or so, which is a productive major league hitter, particularly against left handers. Just take a look at his Statcast numbers from this year. Virtually identical to his 2018-2021 seasons. So, as you say, as the summer heats up, we should expect Cutch to continue to heat up and bring his actual numbers more in line with his expected numbers. 

[torts]

Can anyone get me a shirzy?  Do they exist in Milwaukee?  Can I get them online?  I can't find one and I need one

[Brock Beauchamp]

On 6/1/2022 at 3:09 PM, monty57 said:

I get why the Brewers signed McCutchen this offseason. They freed up a little bit of money by trading JBJ, but they're going to be way over budget next season with the arby raises, so the number of available bats who would sign for one year / $8.5M was probably limited and McCutchen was a decent gamble.

To this point, the gamble has not paid off. He's not hitting against anyone (67 wRC+ vs LHP, 60 vs RHP), but he does have a good history vs LHP in recent years so there is reason to believe that he should start hitting against lefties. Jopal has a point about the injuries, but as the team gets healthy, Hiura and McCutchen should be a strict platoon at DH.  This is going to severely limit McCutchen's playing time, as Taylor has played well enough to win the CF spot and Cain will probably get any OF starts when guys need days off. 

He may not be what we hoped for when he signed this offseason, but he can help win games for the Brewers as a platoon DH and pinch hitter. We're playing for a pennant, so we need to do what's best for the team right now. McCutchen starting every day is not the best thing for this team right now.

I haven’t really crunched the numbers, maybe I’ll start a thread on it but will the Brewers be that far over budget with Cain’s big salary coming off the books?

[Brewcrew82]

McCutchen's June batting line: .320/.420/.480/.900.......From a guy who traditionally heats up as the weather heats up. 

[stalton]

If memory serves, on the broadcast today they said that Cutch was sporting a greater than 1 OPS the last 18 games .

[stoutdude04]

I think most people have an issue with his usage(obviously). If he were used correctly earlier in the year then hardly anyone would be complaining.

And yes, even when he struggled early he was no where near as bad as Cain looked.

[Lathund]

With Cutch, the narrative that he was getting worse results on batted balls than expected early on did hold some truth. But what had me real worried was that his walk and strikeout rates were the worst of his career, by far. That kind of thing is only minimally affected by luck. But it seems like he has managed to turn that around too, making much better swing/take decisions now, seems to be finding that balance between being willing to swing first pitch and yet still able to take his walks. And I love to see the hustle on ground balls too; quite a few infield hits and many more close plays to go with it. Statcast says 90th percentile sprint speed still. 

I wouldn't expect the June pace to keep up, but he legit looks like a much better player, and is starting to give me faith that he can be a useful contributor. And he seems like a really, really likable player, so I hope he plays well to stick around.