Texas Rangers Rumors: Andrew McCutchen Could Be Coming To Texas

With Carlos Gomez and Ian Desmond free agents, the Texas Rangers are looking for a possible replacement.

According to ESPN.com, the Washington Nationals are the front runners to landing McCutchen. But the Texas Rangers are not out of the ball game just yet. The Rangers and Pirates organizations have reportedly spoken to each other about a trade, but there hasn’t been any updates.

McCutchen, 30, finished last season with a career-low batting average of .256.The five-time MLB All-Star is entering the final year of a six-year contract he signed just before the 2012 season. He is reportedly due $14 million next season and he has a 2018 club option worth $14.75 million.

According to Stephen Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates are looking to trade McCutchen for some young talent. Honestly, young talent is what the Rangers need to pursue, too.

More from Nolan Writin'

• Early 2023 MLB mock draft has Texas Rangers selecting an Ohtani-lite
• 3 Texas Rangers outfield trade targets not named Bryan Reynolds
• Did Jacob deGrom really mean what he said at his Texas Rangers press conference?
• Where do Texas Rangers prospects Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker stand after the DeGrom signing?
• Martin Perez accepting the qualifying offer looking like solid deal for the Rangers

Sports Days’ Evan Grant believes that McCutchen is not a good fit for the Texas Rangers due McCutchen’s speed and defensive abilities not being very hot last season.

McCutchen’s offensive statistics from last season are good, but playing defense is an important part of the game, as well. The last thing the Rangers need is a player that is unable to play defense.

Rangers manager Jeff Banister is very familiar with McCutchen.

The Rangers may be better off without him. If they fail to re-sign Desmond and/or Gomez or acquire McCutchen, it will certainly hurt, but the Rangers will need to do what any other team should.

They’ll need to move on and see what else is available. But it’s been reported that talks between Ian Desmond and the Rangers have intensified.

Next: Is Rich Hill coming to Texas?

There hasn’t been any comment from Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels regarding negotiations with Pittsburgh on working out a trade for McCutchen. Daniels has acknowledged that the Rangers are in trade talks with several teams and that they’re not ruling out anything.