The winter meetings began with the strong possibility that the Pittsburgh Pirates would trade Andrew McCutchen. They ended Thursday with the star outfielder still on the team, with the expectation he will be there on Opening Day as well.

"Our intent coming in here was to have Andrew McCutchen be in our lineup going forward," Pirates general manager Neal Huntington told reporters. "No one changed that. It's unlikely someone changes that going forward. We're not going to close the door, but we're not going to be making calls."

Huntington said he talked to multiple teams at the winter meetings about McCutchen, but none of them were willing to meet his steep asking price.

"We took calls. We listened. We engaged. ... In this instance, obviously, we felt the right move was to hold the player and have him continue to help us win a lot of games at the major league level," Pirates GM Neal Huntington said of Andrew McCutchen. Ron Chenoy/USA TODAY Sports

"We took calls. We listened. We engaged," Huntington told reporters. "And not just on Andrew but on other players who are on one- or two-year contracts. As we will always do, if we find the right move and we believe the right move is to move the player, we'll move the player. If we believe the right move is to hold the player, then we'll hold the player.

"In this instance, obviously, we felt the right move was to hold the player and have him continue to help us win a lot of games at the major league level. ... We expected Andrew to be a Pirate. We feel great about Andrew being a Pirate. He's done remarkable things for this organization. We look forward to him being in our lineup next year and continuing on as a Pirate."

The Washington Nationals were reportedly talking to the Pirates about McCutchen, but their trade for Chicago White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton on Wednesday appeared to end their interest.

On Wednesday and Thursday, McCutchen posted tweets of an emoji with its mouth zipped shut and the words "keep working."

McCutchen, who won the National League MVP award in 2013, is coming off his worst major league season, posting career lows in batting average (.256), on-base percentage (.336) and slugging percentage (.430). He also had 24 home runs and 79 RBIs.

The 2013 NL MVP has a .292 batting average, 175 home runs and 637 RBIs in his eight years in the majors, all with the Pirates. McCutchen, a five-time All-Star, won a Gold Glove in 2012.

Huntington said he hasn't talked to McCutchen but plans to do so before Saturday, when the outfielder is expected to appear at PirateFest in Pittsburgh.

If McCutchen is with the Pirates on Opening Day, he might not be in center field. Manager Clint Hurdle told reporters on Wednesday that he talked to McCutchen at the end of last season about moving to a corner-outfield spot in 2017. The outfielder seemed to be receptive to the idea, Hurdle said.