Pittsburgh Pirates: Extending Ke’Bryan Hayes Big Step in the Right Direction

By reaching a long-term contract extension with Ke’Bryan Hayes the Pittsburgh Pirates took a big step toward showing their fans a commitment toward keeping core pieces around and building a winner

We have all heard it. “Spend Nutting, win Nutting!” “Why should I believe in prospect X? The Pirates will trade them to the Yankees or Dodgers in two years anyway.” Etc., etc. The list of, many times justified, angry comments from fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates goes on and on.

While it will take more than just one move for the Pittsburgh Pirates to regain the trust of their fan base and establish goodwill with their fans, as well as the city of Pittsburgh, Thursday they took a big step in that direction. That step came when they agreed to a long-term contract extension with third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes.

The Pirates and Hayes agreed to an 8-year, $70 million contract. This contract is the largest ever handed out in franchise history. It also includes a club option for a 9th season, which means it keeps Hayes under team control through his age-33 season.

With this contract the Pirates have locked up an already elite defensive third baseman through his prime seasons. Due to his hard-hit and barrel rates Hayes also projects to become an above-average offensive player. If he is even average offensively, with his defensive prowess, his contract will look like a steal for the Bucs.

Regardless if the deal was team friendly or not, what’s important is the Pirates reaching this deal with a building block caliber player like Hayes. It gives the team good PR that it has been in desperate need of. It also shows a commitment from the Pirates to keep their talented young players around and to build around them to create the next postseason caliber team in Pittsburgh.

Most importantly, it makes the Pittsburgh Pirates better. Hayes being locked up for the long-term could allow him to become more comfortable and at ease at the plate, leading to the offensive improvements both Hayes and the Pirates are searching for. At worst, it guarantees the Pirates will have an elite defensive third baseman for at least the next 8 seasons. That in itself can be extremely valuable.

While there are plenty of fair criticisms to be made of this ownership group they have done a good job of locking up young players to extensions. During the last window of contention Andrew McCutchen, Charlie Morton, Francisco Cervelli, Gregory Polanco, Jose Tabata, Josh Harrison, and Starling Marte all signed contract extensions with the Pirates. It is nothing but a positive to see this trend continue with Hayes.

While it would not be on as grand of scale, the Pittsburgh Pirates could also be mending some fences when it comes to their other star – center fielder Bryan Reynolds. According to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette owner Bob Nutting is “disappointed” that the Pirates are set to head to an arbitration hearing with their best player. Mackey adds that the Pirates would like to sign Reynolds to a two-year deal to avoid arbitration this season and next in the hopes of opening up further talks between the two sides.

There is still work to be done by the Pittsburgh Pirates when it comes to re-establishing the trust of their fan base and showing what many fans would view as a commitment to winning. However, a Hayes extension is a big step in that direction. If they could also get something down with Reynolds, even if it’s a deal to avoid arbitration the next two seasons, it would be another step in the right direction.