COLUMN: Clint Hurdle made the move; the rest is up to McCutchen

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle made the move. Now, the rest is up to Andrew McCutchen

Andrew McCutchen has been moved from his customary third-spot in the batting order.

Your Bucs are back in the Burgh! Here's our lineup for tonight.

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— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) May 26, 2017

The move was a long-simmering one. Our own Matt Shetler put McCutchen’s horrific start to the 2017 season in perspective for us in his recent piece. From that article:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]McCutchen sits here on May 24, posting a .200/.271/.359 slash line.  A whopping .630 OPS from your three-hole hitter is a big reason why the Pirates are sitting in last place in a bad division. Every number McCutchen shows in his stat line this season represents a career low. The numbers look even worse when you look at the month of May. In the past 21 games, McCutchen sports a .160/.225/.298 line.  Yes, he is slugging just .298 in the past three weeks.[/perfectpullquote]

You can slice the numbers up any way that you like, but no amount of statistic manpiulation can change the fact that the 2013 National League MVP has been bad with a capital B in 2017.

Hurdle was stuck in an incredibly awkward position. While both he and Andrew McCutchen said all the right things in public, it still had to be incredibly difficult to have the conversation Hurdle undoubtedly had with his team’s most visible player. Hurlde has a well-earned reputation as a player’s manager. If we liken his relationship with McCutchen to an “emotional bank account,” Hurdle has continuously made deposits of good will with McCutchen, and one hopes that it was well received when Hurdle had to make a withdraw.

Now, the rest is up to Andrew McCutchen

With Hurdle making a move that he likely did not want to have to make, the onus for improvement now falls solely on Andrew McCutchen.

The depths of McCutchen’s slide are great, for all the reasons we’ve been over countless times before.

The Pirates gave him the benefit of the doubt – as they should have – but the time for passive inaction is long gone. From a team standpoint, this move was an absolute necessity if they have any designs – feint or otherwise – to claw their way back into contention.

However, this move can be a good one for the player as well. Pittsburgh may be gambling on the move being a motivator for McCutchen, or at the very least a wake up call. Andrew McCutchen has always been a self-starter throughout his career, but a certain amount of hubris may have crept in along the way.

Both the Pittsburgh Pirates and Andrew McCutchen want nothing more than the center fielder to find his way at the plate again. The Pirates made their move, and now McCutchen must make his.

There was talk of a “monster year,” after all.