Pittsburgh Pirates: Bryan Reynolds Still Open to a Long-Term Contract

Even after a bit of a tumultuous offseason, Bryan Reynolds has made it clear that he is still open to a long-term contract extension with the Pittsburgh Pirates

It was not an easy offseason between Bryan Reynolds and the Pittsburgh Pirates. After the two sides were not close in contract extension talks, Reynolds requested a trade in early December. This led to an offseason of trade rumors swirling around the Pirates and their All-Star center fielder.

As the Grapefruit League season prepares to kickoff on Saturday afternoon, Reynolds is still a Pirate. Not only is he still a Pirate, he wants to remain a Pirate for the long-term. Reynolds has said repeatedly he would still like to get a long-term deal done with the team, and he expressed those wishes to the media again on Saturday.

When asked about a long-term deal with the Pirates, Reynolds told the media that he would "love to get something done." Reynolds also stated that there are no bad feelings between him and owner Bob Nutting, calling both Nutting and team president Travis Williams good people.

Reynolds added that the talks he has been seen having with Nutting thus far this spring have been "casual." Adding that his meetings with Nutting were also done to help clear the air between the two parties.

While, per Reynolds, no new offer has been made by the Pirates, he did add he does not intend to set any sort of deadline to get an extension done. Whenever the Pirates are ready to reutrn to the negitation table, so will Reynolds.

At this point Reynolds has proven his worth. He is coming off a season in which he hit for a .262/.345/.461 slash line to go with a 125 wRC+ and an OPS+ of 126. He posted a 2.9 WAR, and hit a career-high 27 home runs.

In his now four-year MLB career the switch hitting Reynolds has hit for a .281/.361/.481 slash line with a 126 wRC+ and a 127 OPS+. He has been worth a 13.6 WAR in his career, posting a WAR of at least 2.9 in three of his four seasons.

All of the strong numbers for Reynolds are despite his COVID shortened 2020 season being abysmal. Reynolds hit for just a .189/.275/.357 slash line, with a wRC+ of 70 and an OPS+ of 71 in 2020. However, he has more than proven that the results he had in just 208 plate appearances that season were a complete aberration.

At this point it appears that it would benefit both sides to get a long-term extension done. It certainly appears possible the two sides could meet again soon to talk contract extension, and, most importantly, it's clear that Reynolds still wants to be in Pittsburgh long-term.

Hopefully, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Reynolds are able to get something done allowing Reynolds to settle in as a key building block for the Pirates for the next 5+ seasons.