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McCutchen: 'I'd Be Lying If I Said It Didn't Bother Me'

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- There were a lot of things to see and talk about at PiratesFest, but the biggest attraction and biggest topic was Andrew McCutchen, who signed a ton of autographs.

McCutchen was the subject of so much trade speculation last week at the MLB winter meetings. When the dust settled, he's still a member of the Pirates, at least for now.

But the question is, for how much longer? Even Andrew McCutchen doesn't know the answer to that. One thing we do know, he is going to approach 2017 with a big chip on his shoulder.

"Motivated. I don't know if that's even quite the word I'm looking for, but it's something a lot higher than motivated. You know, I'm hungry. That's where I'm at," McCutchen said. "Like I said, I'm only 30. I'm looking forward to the season. I'm ready to go, and I can't wait to get my feet back there on the field and get ready and show that I'm not washed up, I guess.

"And like I said, I'm only 30 years old, so it's not like I'm 40. And even that is possible, too, you've seen what Big Papi did, so anything is possible in this game, and I'm looking forward to next season," he continued.

But he only has this season and next remaining on a contract he signed in 2012, and after the trades of Neil Walker, Francisco Liriano and Mark Melancon, it seems unlikely the Pirates will offer him a new deal.

McCutchen has always said he wants to be a Pirate for life, but given the events of last week, does he still want that to happen? Can that still happen?

"I don't know if that can happen. I do want to be here. I'd be lying to you if I didn't tell you that none of this didn't bother me, that my name was out there. Of course it did, I'm human," McCutchen said. "You know, someone cuts you off while you're driving, you get bothered. We're all human.

"And to have my name, to be thinking about being possibly getting traded or whatever that it was, yeah, of course that got to me," he continued. "Because we all have these dreams of being something. My dream is to be a Pirate my whole career."

If this is to happen, the next move is up to Pirate management.

McCutchen also spoke with 93.7 The FAN's Colin Dunlap on Newsradio 1020 KDKA at PirateFest. He elaborated that while it bothered him, he knows it's a part of the game.

"It did bother me to see those things, but I know that's a part of it," he said. "That's something that we don't sign up for. It's something that we don't want to have our name in, but we also know it's a part of the game."

He also elaborated on how he's going to use the trade speculation to motivate him moving forward.

"You choose to do what you want with it, and what I choose to do with it is not let that get to me to the point to where it's affecting me as a person, and not only as a person, but as a player," he said.

"I can use that and everything that's happened, I can either take it as a bad thing or I can take it as a good thing," he continued, "and I'm going to choose to take it as a good thing, choose to have that propel me into having a really good year next season."

Cutch talks more about how he wants to remain a Pittsburgh Pirate.

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