Pittsburgh Pirates: Fresh Bryan Reynolds Rumors as Lockout Ends

The Lockout is officially over and the Pittsburgh Pirates already have rumors about one of their players.  Who is interested in who?

Back in late November things were very active across Major League Baseball.  This was especially true for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  The Bucs made a few different moves before the Lockout was imposed by the owners.  Could there be another on the horizon?

Many thought that the Pittsburgh Pirates sell-off was over after the 2021 Major League Baseball Trade Deadline.  That was not the case.  While the Bucs did sign veteran pitcher Jose Quintana to a major league deal, the team also traded away breakout catcher Jacob Stallings.  When looking at it, moving on from Stallings is a much bigger subtraction than adding Quintana.

Now the team did acquire a pretty solid return for the veteran catcher.  The Marlins sent 3 players in the deal including pitcher Zach Thompson, outfielder Connor Scott, and pitcher Kyle Nicolas. In Thompson, the team is getting a pitcher who will step right into the rotation.  Scott and Nicolas are the two intriguing prospects with high upside but with questions.

Now according to one report, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Miami Marlins may not be done working out deals. Joe Frisaro, who covers the Marlins, put out a tweet about the outfielders the Marlins are interested in acquiring.  The name Bryan Reynolds was in the Tweet:

Before the lockout went into place many wondered what would come of Bryan Reynolds.  He no doubt is an extension candidate that Pittsburgh Pirates fans would love to see the Organization prioritize keeping him.  On the other hand, the team did move Stallings with 3 years of team control left.

Reynolds has 4 years of contractual control left, which only helps his trade value.  At the same time, the Pittsburgh Pirates do not have to be in a rush to get a deal done with 4 years left, although if they wait any longer it might be harder to reach a deal.  In turn, if they cannot reach a deal down the road then Reynolds value could drop due to losing team control and becoming more expensive. So the team has two scenarios going forward: trade Reynolds and get a maximum return, or extend him and give the fans something.

It will be interesting to see if anything comes of this rumor.  Obviously, teams are going to want the all-star outfielder and the Marlins have not been connected to him at last years’ deadline, prelockout, and now post-lockout.  Expect more rumors to come up, especially involving the Mariners who also have shown interest in the Buc’s star outfielder.