Pittsburgh Pirates: Why Each Connected Team Can’t Afford Bryan Reynolds

Examining reasons as to why each team connected to Bryan Reynolds will not swing a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates for Reynolds

There have been some rumors floating around about some teams looking into Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds. Reynolds is coming off a great 2021 campaign that saw him bat .302/.390/.522 with a .385 wOBA, and 142 wRC+. Plus he smacked 24 home runs and had the first 5+ fWAR season since Andrew McCutchen and Francisco Cervelli back in 2015.

Reynolds is controlled through the 2025 season, giving him four years of control remaining. Now the rumors aren’t all that surprising. While the Pirates are nearing a major turning point in the rebuild, they’re still rebuilding nonetheless. Teams are going to kick the tires on every player on every rebuilding team, regardless of control remaining.

But there is nothing to worry about for the Pittsburgh Pirates or their fans. According to Jon Heyman, the Bucs have an “astronomical” price on Reynolds. There are multiple reasons why the teams who have looked into Reynolds, namely the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Miami Marlins, and Seattle Mariners, won’t trade for the Pirate outfielder.

New York Yankees

The Yankees do have some very intriguing pieces. Anthony Volpe and Jasson Dominguez are probably the best prospects New York has. But the thing is, they probably won’t part with either of them. Sure, Reynolds is absolutely worth both of them and then some (they’d have to get back more than just Dominguez and Volpe) but the Yankees aren’t known for trading their high-end prospects.

The last time the Yankees traded any consensus top 20 or higher prospect was nearly a decade ago. That was when they traded Jesus Montero to the Seattle Mariners for 2011 All-Star right-handed pitcher Michael Pineda. Teams don’t just trade top 20 prospects, let alone multiple. So why all of a sudden would the Yankees do something they haven’t done about a decade?