Less than a month after dealing with the excitement and emotions of his acquisition from the Tampa Bay Rays, new San Francisco third baseman Evan Longoria told Murph & Mac on Wednesday morning how thrilled he is with the Giants’ recent trade for Andrew McCutchen.
“It’s a big, big acquisition,” Longoria said. “I played against him in spring every year and we played against him last year I believe. When you play on a team that hasn’t had a whole lot of success and you don’t play on the national stage all that much, although he’s obviously won an MVP and has been a high-caliber player his entire career, sometime you don’t get all of the recognition that you deserve. I think when you look at McCutchen’s numbers, they speak for themselves. What he’s done on the baseball field is probably some of the best numbers and performances over the last 10 years in the National League.”
When McCutchen debuted with the Pirates in 2009, the franchise was 16 years removed from its last playoff appearance. In 1992, they reached the NLCS only to lose Game 7 to the Atlanta Braves. Although it took another four years before the Pirates saw October baseball once again, McCutchen’s presence helped point the team in the right direction.
Starting in 2013, the same season McCutchen won the MVP award, the Pirates began a stretch of three consecutive playoff appearances with three goes at the Wild Card game. They beat the Cincinnati Reds to eventually lose to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS in 2013, but the Pirates went on to lose their next two Wild Card appearances; most notably in 2014 when they were brought down by the Giants, McCutchen’s new team.
From 2011-2015, McCutchen was a five-time All-Star and MVP in 2013, finishing in the top five for the award from 2012-2015.
Despite his former team’s postseason misfortunes, Longoria sees the acquisition of McCutchen as clear evidence that the Giants are fully committed to winning and moving past their 98-loss season in 2017.
“When you add a player like that, it adds a mindset that the team is committed to winning and I’ve heard nothing but great things about McCutchen in the clubhouse and off the field,” Longoria said. “Those things, whether or not you can quantify them, I believe those things go a long way.”
To listen to the full interview check out the podcast below, and skip to 8:45 for Longoria on McCutchen.