{"id":57691,"date":"2023-03-10T14:00:40","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T19:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=57691"},"modified":"2023-03-10T11:12:26","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T16:12:26","slug":"bryan-reynolds-contract-pirates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/03\/10\/bryan-reynolds-contract-pirates\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Time for the Pittsburgh Pirates to Pay Bryan Reynolds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Bryan Reynolds was acquired by the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/03\/07\/derek-shelton-pirates-manager-2\/\" target=\"_self\">Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a> for Andrew McCutchen in an off-season trade prior to the 2018 season. In Pittsburgh, the move was viewed as a questionable one that continued to kick the can down the road. As the 2023 season is soon to kick into full gear, Reynolds and McCutchen don Pirates jerseys. It&#8217;s funny how things happen sometimes. The two are on different career trajectories, however.<\/p>\n<p>McCutchen is a former National League MVP that is on the back nine of his career looking for a chance to be a part of a rebirth in Pittsburgh. Reynolds is the team&#8217;s best player and is due a contract in the near future if the Pirates wish to keep his services.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Bryan Reynolds says he still wants to be traded <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ZZ95suHDlL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/ZZ95suHDlL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Talkin\u2019 Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TalkinBaseball_\/status\/1625871177896890372?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 15, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Bryan Reynolds Still Open To An Extension<\/h2>\n<p>Reports in recent weeks have stated that there is a sizable gap in the negotiations. Reynolds is looking for well north of $100 million while the Pirates have offered well short of that number. When a team this devoid of stars has one in its grasp and is choosing to jerk him around in contract negotiations, that is a problem. Reynolds does not deserve that.<\/p>\n<p>For far too long, Pirates owner Bob Nutting has been viewed across the league as the type of owner more concerned about running a business than a sports team. He says the right things but never seems to follow up on them.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, he&#8217;s stated on multiple occasions how he wants to re-sign the outfielder but has yet to come forth with a serious offer. Nutting continues to find bargain bin free agents and promises a young crop of talent that never seems to materialize its way to Pittsburgh. It&#8217;s been a constant cycle of nothing for far too long now.<\/p>\n<p>Reynolds has been relatively healthy in his Pirates career. Thanks to his healthy presence, he has been very productive in that time on the field. The 28-year-old is a career .281\/.361\/.481 hitter with 74 home runs across four seasons. One of those seasons was the shortened COVID season. He&#8217;s got legitimate 20-home run pop and can play all three outfield positions although he&#8217;s better suited for the corners.<\/p>\n<p>There is not much the All-Star can&#8217;t do.<\/p>\n<h3>Reynolds&#8217; impact on the Pirates<\/h3>\n<p>Reynolds has found a home in the top third of the Pirates&#8217; lineup. They&#8217;ve spent most of his tenure in the Steel City playing for teams without much talent. Recently, players like Oneil Cruz and Ke&#8217;Bryan Hayes have graduated to the big leagues so he&#8217;s starting to get at least some lineup protection. There is more help on the way <em>if<\/em> the crop of young talent actually comes to fruition.<\/p>\n<p>He has garnered plenty of trade interest from teams like the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/03\/09\/carlos-rodon-injury-mlb\/\" target=\"_self\">New York Yankees<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2022\/11\/15\/martin-perez-signs-rangers\/\" target=\"_self\">Texas Rangers<\/a>. No group of players the Pirates would acquire would likely help this current version of the team and would kick the can down the road further. Losing a bat like that via trade, or even worse, for nothing in free agency, would be an absolute travesty. He can be a cornerstone player for a contending team if the Pirates really view themselves as heading in that direction.<\/p>\n<p>The two biggest contracts in team history have gone to Hayes and Jason Kendall. Hayes signed his deal on Opening Day last season receiving an eight-year, $76 million deal. Kendall&#8217;s deal, signed in 2000, was six years for $60 million. This is a big-league franchise by the way.<\/p>\n<p>Why not set the precedent with a talented player like Reynolds?<\/p>\n<p>The Pirates were lucky to sign guys like McCutchen and Starling Marte to team-friendly deals earlier in their careers. Reynolds isn&#8217;t going to give the same discount. He wants to be paid his worth and has every right to ask for that money. Signing him would even make other higher-end free agents more inclined to play in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n<p>Pittsburgh can not afford to let Bryan Reynolds get away. It would be malpractice at the highest level.<\/p>\n<p>Main photo credits:<\/p>\n<p>Charles LeClaire-USA Today Sports<\/p>\n<p>Players mentioned:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reynobr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-03-10_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bryan Reynolds<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mccutan01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-03-10_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Andrew McCutchen<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cruzon01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-03-10_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oneil Cruz<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hayeske01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-03-10_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ke&#8217;Bryan Hayes<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kendaja01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-03-10_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jason Kendall<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/martest01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-03-10_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Starling Marte<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bryan Reynolds was acquired by the Pittsburgh Pirates for Andrew McCutchen in an off-season trade prior to the 2018 season. In Pittsburgh, the move was viewed as a questionable one that continued to kick the can down the road. As the 2023 season is soon to kick into full gear, Reynolds and McCutchen don Pirates [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4471,"featured_media":57698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,2,1071],"tags":[610,6208,1374,5455,3070,645,3434,612],"class_list":["post-57691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pirates","category-featured","category-mlb","tag-andrew-mccutchen","tag-bob-nutting","tag-bryan-reynolds","tag-jason-kendall","tag-kebryan-hayes","tag-nl-central","tag-oneil-cruz","tag-starling-marte"],"modified_by":"Matt Graves","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4471"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}