Pittsburgh Pirates: Miami Marlins Inquired About Bryan Reynolds

The Miami Marlins inquired to the Pittsburgh Pirates about All-Star outfielder Bryan Reynolds, but their asking price ended up being way out of the range of the Miami Marlins.

The Pittsburgh Pirates traded away two more regulars of their roster this trade deadline. They sent Adam Frazier to the San Diego Padres and Richard Rodriguez to the Atlanta Braves. The Pirates further reinforced their already strong farm system with even more players.

The team has very few players in untouchable territory. One being rookie third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes. However, based on what the Pittsburgh Pirates were asking for in a Bryan Reynolds trade, it seems he can also be put into untouchable territory. According to Jon Heyman, the Miami Marlins inquired about Reynolds availability, but the Pirates were asking for the moon, the stars, and the rest of the universe for the all-star outfielder.

The switch hitter has been flatout outstanding this year. Going into Sunday, Reynolds was hitting .309/.388/.424 with a .390 wOBA, and 146 wRC+. Reynolds has crushed a career high 18 home runs and counting while racking up 25 doubles. He’s on pace for 27 home runs and 38 doubles across an entire season.

Simply put, he’s been one of the best outfielders in the game, and one of the best hitters in the game in general. He ranks 12th among all qualified players in wRC+, 13th in wOBA and OPS. Among his peers at his position, he ranks 6th in wRC+, 7th in wOBA, and OPS. Plus with control through the 2025 season, the Pirates had almost zero reason to trade Reynolds.

Though a package including the Marlins’ top 3 prospects would have been very intriguing. According to FanGraphs, the Marlins’ top 3 prospects are Max Meyer, Sixto Sanchez, and Edward Cabrera. All three are right-handed pitchers and all three are considered consensus top 50 prospects. If you go by MLB Pipeline’s rankings, the Marlins top 3 prospects are Sanchez, outfielder JJ Bleday, and Meyer. All three are top 20 prospects per MLB Pipeline. Meanwhile, Edward Cabrera, their 4th ranked prospect, comes in at #50, and Bleday ranks as FanGraphs’ 107th top prospect.

Essentially the Pittsburgh Pirates weren’t parting with Reynolds for anything less than three consensus top 50 prospects. Rarely do teams trade any prospects nearing the top 20-50, let alone three. The only other team we heard connected to Reynolds was the Houston Astros, but the Pirates balked on trade talks with them. Though it wouldn’t be surprising if other teams asked about his avaiability, but the Pirates quickly turned down offers that we didn’t hear about, especially after hearing the asking price they had on Reynolds. The last time a team acquired even close to that many top prospects was when the Red Sox acquired Chris Sale for Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech during the 2016-2017 offseason.

Reynolds may not have been 100% untouchable, but he may as well have been given the asking price Ben Cherington and company put on him. Very few teams could even come close to that asking price while almost none of them would be willing to part with the prospect capita to acquire the all-star outfielder.