The Pirates' Andrew McCutchen, left, shakes hands with team general manager Ben Cherington before talking with reporters after signing a one-year contract in Pittsburgh on Friday. McCutchen was part a nucleus that helped the Pirates to three consecutive playoff appearances from 2013-2015. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Gene J. Puskar

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Andrew McCutchen could have chosen to return to Pittsburgh out of sentimentality. Out of convenience. Out of sheer financial good sense.

And while the outfielder can appreciate the symmetry of returning to the club he helped define during its brilliant if relatively brief return to relevance a decade ago, his decision to come back to the Pirates on Friday had little to do with history.

“I want to win, plain and simple,” McCutchen said after signing a one-year, $5 million deal to serve as the voice of wisdom on a club brimming with youth. “I want to win. Specifically, I want to win here. ”

Wearing a bright blue suit and with his wife Maria and three children sitting nearby, McCutchen said he believes the franchise where he rose to stardom in the early 2010s is far closer to contention than the group he joined as the dreadlocked blur of a rookie centerfielder in 2009.

Pittsburgh lost 99 and 105 games in his first two seasons. And while the Pirates lost 100 last year, McCutchen thinks the team he'll join in spring training is well ahead of where the franchise was at during his career's nascent stages.

“I feel like if this team was going to lose 100 games, if I felt that, I wouldn’t just want to come back,” he said. “I feel like this is a team that’s really special and I feel like I can be very helpful and beneficial and be impactful on the ballclub.”