Pittsburgh Pirates Rumors: Is Bryan Reynolds Available?

The Pittsburgh Pirates are likely to be one of the more active sellers at this year’s trade deadline.  Could one of the team’s core players be dealt away?

The Major League Baseball Trade Deadline is less than one week away and the rumors are starting to swirl.  Everyone knows that the Pittsburgh Pirates are building towards the future and with a poor record are one of the clear cut sellers heading into this upcoming Monday.  So as Monday gets closer, more and more rumors are likely to start popping up.

The rumors have already started for the Pittsburgh Pirates, which makes sense being one of the few true sellers.  Late Monday night Jon Morosi of MLB Network reported that the Blue Jays have an interest in starters Trevor Williams and/or Chad Kuhl.  This obviously caught a lot of attention and for good reason.  Williams and Kuhl have been the Bucs best starters this year and both have two years of team control after this season.

However, those two are not the only two names that have popped up in rumors.  Apparently, Bryan Reynolds could be available, or at least there may be teams trying to pry him loose from the Pirates given the position they are in.  Ken Rosenthal dropped this note in his weekly column at The Athletic.  Rosenthall said:

The Pirates’ Bryan Reynolds is a presumably available zero-plus, but he, too, has regressed this season. Those are just two examples, but they demonstrate the challenge of finding the right fit.

What is interesting is that Rosenthal was not discussing the Pittsburgh Pirates in his column.  He actually was talking about the Cleveland Indians potentially selling off pieces such as Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac.  So why even bring that up?  It is hard to say. Rosenthal does not say clear-cut that his name is being discussed, so what leads him to think he could be available?

If there is one thing for sure, it is really hard to say if the Pittsburgh Pirates would trade him or not.  With a new Front Office and a team that looks to be a few years away from truly competing, Cherington may be willing to listen on anyone.  General Managers can listen on players, but that does not mean they want or have to trade them.

Reynolds will not be a free agent until after the 2024 season, so he still has plenty of years of team-friendly control.  Furthermore, the Bucs could really start to compete as soon as 2022, so trading Reynolds would likely work against that barring an insane return.  This is a return that likely no team will be willing to give up for a single player.  If one were to bet, Bryan Reynolds will most likely not be traded.