The Giants and the Pirates are both coming off bad years (two years for the Bucs, a year and a half for the Giants), after some very good ones. MVP and All-Star McCutchen was the anchor of the Pirates' good years, the personification of Pittsburgh that for awhile lifted the Pirates over the Steelers in hometown popularity. Though they got close they never won even a division championship, but they ended decades of losing seasons with nameless and faceless revolving door lineups, ever since Barry Bonds was sent to San Francisco.
The Giants had bigger success and little competition for fan affection. The team that barely avoided losing 100 games last season had many of the players that won at least one championship, and especially that had the best record in baseball for the first half of 2016. But that's not necessarily the reason the two teams have responded to a bad year in the opposite way, more than symbolized by this trade.
Pittsburgh has clearly opted for rebuilding with young talent while San Francisco is keeping its star (and high priced) core while adding experienced players with stardom at least in their recent past. So while the Pirates are essentially conceding at least next season, the Giants are all in, though there are plenty of skeptics who just don't see it happening.
But it's more a Giants' bet that their core needed a few better pieces and better luck and health to get to the playoffs. It's that the Giants can afford to place this particular bet, but the Pirates cannot.
The Giants play in one of the most affluent cities and regions in the country. People with money are among their active fans. The team organization is well connected. Except for the American League A's playing across the Bay, their market extends hundreds of miles in all directions. They can afford to put some big names out there and keep trying to win big, while it's not clear they can as easily afford to lose status and fans by rebuilding.
The Pirates are in a vibrant city but less affluent part of the country. They are the definition of a small market team--hemmed in by Cleveland (an hour's drive away) and Cinncy to the west, the Phillies etc. to the East. While they won the hearts of Pittsburgh area sports fans again, they're still at least second and probably third in affluent fans and connections to the Steelers and perhaps the Penguins.
I recall a general manager of the Pirates explaining this situation to me just one season after their last World Championship in 1979. Then in the 90s when the Bonds, Bonilla and Van Slyke teams kept winning divisions but couldn't quite get beyond that, and the big contracts were up, the Pirates dismantled that team. It took until this current decade of the 21st century for them to be competitive again.
Ironically (or Iron City-ically) they were able to keep a very good team going this time because Andrew McCutchen really wanted to play in Pittsburgh and didn't demand the money that his MVP status earned. Now he's coming to San Francisco, with a year left on his bargain contract and perhaps on the downward curve of his career. Or, at 31, perhaps not.
So far he's slated for centerfield but stories today suggest the Giants would like to play him at one of the corners. There was concern in Pittsburgh over his defense last year in center. Iron City-ically again, when I saw the Pirates defeat the Giants last season in San Francisco, it was McCutchen's great late inning catch in center with men on base that preserved the win.
Assuming he takes to the city, Cutch should be an asset on and off the field--and eventually a fan favorite. Whether the new bats have a good year in new surroundings will be one factor. But it seems as if the weakness of the bullpen, so fatal so many times in late innings last year, has not yet been addressed.
As for the Pirates, it may be back to the pre-Cutch Bucs for the fans, enjoying a great ball park and those Primanti sandwiches.
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