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Law: Giants fill outfield hole with McCutchen, but are still far from contention

The Andrew McCutchen era in Pittsburgh is over with the Bucs trading their icon and leader to San Francisco as Pirates GM Neal Huntington continues to try to recapture some value for veterans before they leave as free agents.

McCutchen is not the solution to the Giants' center-field hole. He hasn't been even an average defensive center fielder for a few years now, but as it turns out, the Giants also have a sizable hole in left, where McCutchen should be at least average with the glove. San Francisco got bupkis from left field in 2017, with a .232/.292/.338 aggregate line from their left fielders, well below replacement level for the position, so Cutch won't have a high bar to clear with the bat to be an upgrade and could easily give the Giants 3-4 more wins just by repeating what he did in 2017.