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Dodgers: One Team Won the Off-Season; It Wasn’t the Dodgers

By Jack Trent Dorfman

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 16: Bryce Harper #34 during the T-Mobile Home Run Derby at Nationals Park on July 16, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 16: Bryce Harper #34 during the T-Mobile Home Run Derby at Nationals Park on July 16, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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TAMPA, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 26: Andrew McCutchen #22 of the Philadelphia Phillies looks on prior to the Grapefruit League spring training game against the New York Yankees at Steinbrenner Field on February 26, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

Sign Andrew McCutchen

The next move the Phillies made in their stellar offseason was to sign Andrew McCutchen. One of a few former-MVPs available this offseason (and one of two the Phillies signed), McCutchen could have provided exactly what Dodgers-signee A.J. Pollock is expected to produce, but with more stability and less injury risk.

Pollock is 31 and has played only more than 130 games once in his career. He has eclipsed 110 games 4 times, but if a player is being signed after the age of 30 for over $10 million per year as Pollock is, one would hope to be able to count on production.

While McCutchen cost more than Pollock, he was less of a long-term commitment, as the Phillies netted McCutchen for 3 years and $50 million versus the 5-year, $60 million deal the Dodgers gave Pollock.

But the extra money is well worth the cost. The 32-year old McCutchen not only has a more proven track record of success (again, see his MVP award, Gold Glove, five All-Star games, and four Silver Sluggers) but is also much more durable.

McCutchen has not played in less than 146 games since his rookie year back in 2009. McCutchen is the epitome of stability, and for a team that likes to rotate players around, it may have been nice to have a player like McCutchen to provide an anchor at the top of the lineup and in the outfield that could be counted on to produce all season long and not just for 110 or so games of it.

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