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The offseason is still young, though Saturday represents an important hot stove deadline. It's the deadline for players and teams to make their option decisions, meaning club options or player options, and in some cases player opt-outs. Some are easy decisions -- the Red Sox picked up their $12.5 million club option for Chris Sale, for example -- but many aren't.

On Friday, the Pirates picked up their no-brainer club option for franchise cornerstone Andrew McCutchen. He'll earn $14.75 million in 2018, a pittance relative to his production.

McCutchen had a down 2016 season, there's no doubt about that, but he bounced back to hit .279/.363/.486 (121 OPS+) with 28 home runs in 156 games in 2017. Even if he is no longer a perennial MVP candidate, McCutchen's production is well worth $14.75 million. He's a bargain at that salary next year. Declining the option was never a serious consideration.

So now, with McCutchen's option picked up, the question becomes this: what's next? McCutchen will be a free agent next offseason, and the Pirates have three options.

1. Trade McCutchen now

Can the Pirates contend next season? Sure, it's possible. But their win total has gone from 98 in 2015 to 78 in 2016 to 75 in 2017. That's not a good trend. Not with the Cubs, the upstart Brewers, and the always contending Cardinals in the NL Central. McCutchen was on the trade block all last offseason and at times it seemed he was days, if not minutes away from being traded. The Pirates could put McCutchen back on the block this winter, market him as a cheaper alternative to Giancarlo Stanton, and essentially begin another rebuild. That's not fun, though it may be necessary.

2. Keep McCutchen for 2018

The alternative to trading McCutchen is keeping him next season, trying to win with him, then seeing what happens in free agency after the season. That likely means losing him and getting a draft pick in return -- it's hard to see the Pirates winning a large bidding war -- though McCutchen could decide his heart is in Pittsburgh, and he wants to stay in the city the rest of his career. That'd be neat. 

3. Keep him for now, then trade him at the deadline

This is not necessarily an either/or situation. The Pirates don't have to trade him this offseason or have to keep him all next season. They can hang on to McCutchen, see how things shake out the first four months of next season, then determine the next step. And that next step could be trading him at the deadline if they're out of the race, or keeping him and going for it if they're in the race. Should young players like Josh Bell, Jameson Taillon, Tyler Glasnow and Gregory Polanco take their game to the next level next year, the Pirates could be right in the thick of the postseason race. It's not far-fetched.

The end of a homegrown star player's tenure with his team is rarely pretty. Whether it ends in free agency, with a trade, or even with retirement, the end is often a difficult process. There is still an entire offseason to go, but at this moment, the Pirates look like a fringe contender at best for 2018, and the rest of McCutchen's prime may not line up with their window. A trade at some point, either this winter or at the deadline, seems most likely.