Giants acquire McCutchen from Pirates

The San Francisco Giants found the outfielder they were looking for this winter, acquiring Andrew McCutchen from Pittsburgh on Monday to fill a key void.

San Francisco parted with righthander Kyle Crick, minor-league outfielder Bryan Reynolds and $500,000 in international signing bonus allocation. The Pirates also sent $2.5 million to the Giants to cover part of McCutchen’s $14.75million salary.

McCutchen, 31, a former National League MVP and long the face of the Pirates’ franchise, became the second star jettisoned by Pittsburgh in three days. Ace Gerrit Cole was traded to Houston on Saturday.

Earlier in the off-season, the Giants acquired third baseman Evan Longoria from Tampa Bay.

McCutchen may take over in centre from Denard Span, who was traded to the Rays in the Longoria deal, or he could slide to an outfield corner.

McCutchen batted .279 with 28 home runs and 88 RBIs in 156 games in 2017. But he has not been an all-star since ’15, when he was selected for the fifth straight season. He is entering the final season of a six-year, $51.5-million contract.

Crick, 25, had a 3.06 ERA, 28 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings and a .191 opponents’ batting average last year in his first big-league season, allowing three of 21 inherited runners to score.

Reynolds, a 22-year-old switchhitter, batted .312 with 26 doubles, nine triples, 10 homers and 63 RBIs as class A San Jose. He was a second-round pick in 2016.