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Welcome to CBSSports.com's Rumor Buy Or Sell. With the July 31 trade deadline approaching, we'll break down any various trade rumors that come your way during the summer months.

The Rumor: The Pirates, who have won seven of 10 games in the second half to climb back to within one game of .500, are leaning against trading franchise icon Andrew McCutchen prior to next Monday's deadline.

The club option is a merely a formality. There's no chance the Pirates will let McCutchen walk rather than exercise their $14.75 million option. At worst, they'd pick up the option and trade him.

The Background: McCutchen, 30, is hitting .292/.384/.507 with 17 home runs in 96 games this season, and that's despite a really slow start. He bottomed out at .200/.271/.359 on May 23. In 51 games since, McCutchen is hitting .380/.482/.648 with 11 home runs and more walks (34) than strikeouts (32). He's been peak Andrew McCutchen for two months now.

The Pirates did, of course, entertain offers for McCutchen all offseason, and at one point it seemed like he was minutes away from joining the Nationals. He had a tough 2016 season by his standards, hitting .256/.336/.430 with 24 home runs, so Pittsburgh put him on the market. Obviously McCutchen was never traded. The Pirates were open to dealing him, but they weren't going to give him away either.

Thanks to this 7-3 stretch out of the All-Star break, the Pirates are 49-50 and only three games back of the Cubs and Brewers in the NL Central race. A wild card spot probably isn't happening -- Pittsburgh is 7 1/2 games back of the second wildcard spot with three teams ahead of them -- so a division title is their only realistic shot at the postseason. Trading McCutchen would hurt the team's chances of playing in October. There's no doubt about it. 

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Are the Pirates close enough to the NL Central lead that they'll keep Andrew McCutchen? USATSI

The Verdict: I am selling this rumor. The Pirates have gotten back into the NL Central race, though the Cubs look like they're going into juggernaut mode, and catching them is going to be awfully difficult. McCutchen's trade value may never again be as high as it is right now, so the club could cash in and turn him into a bevy of young players. The Dodgers and Nationals stand out as potential landing spots.

Do the Pirates want to trade McCutchen? Of course not. They'd love to make him a Pirate for life. That might not be possible financially, however, meaning a trade is the next best course of action. Keep in mind the Pirates have an elite outfield prospect waiting in Triple-A in Austin Meadows, so trading McCutchen would allow them to import young talent and clear a roster spot for Meadows. (Meadows is currently on the disabled list with a hamstring injury, though it's not a long-term concern.)

Ultimately, the Pirates spent all winter entertaining trade offers for McCutchen, and I don't think their feelings have changed. If they were in first place or comfortably in the wild card race, then yeah, hanging on to him would make sense. When the only realistic path to the postseason involves playing at least three games better than the Cubs the rest of the way, it's time to starting thinking about alternatives.