Pittsburgh Pirates Rumors: Bryan Reynolds Still Connected to Texas

The rumors continue to swirl around the Pittsburgh Pirates and their star outfielder. It looks like the Texas Rangers are one of the teams in on the outfielder.

Over the last few weeks, the rumors have really picked up regarding Bryan Reynolds. Reynolds requested a trade from the Pittsburgh Pirates in December. Since then the rumors have also become more clear in terms of what teams are trying to make a deal.

Over the last few weeks the Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder has been connected to the New York Yankees, the Seattle Mariners, the Miami Marlins, and the Texas Rangers. The Yankees have been the least connected recently, while the other three have picked up momentum in terms of rumors.

The Seattle Mariners are still in play, but they did sign versatile outfielder AJ Pollock. Although considering he is making around $8 million for the year and is often injured, he could be more of a 4th outfielder for the Mariners. With him, their outfield has become more crowded making them less obvious of a fit for Reynolds.

So this leaves the Miami Marlins and the Texas Rangers. Both would be good teams to deal with as they both have an excess of prominent pitching. It looks like the Rangers are definitely in play for Bryan Reynolds. Today, Jon Morosi of MLB Network, reported that the Rangers are indeed still involved in the sweepstakes for Reynolds. Morosi tweeted:

Of the pitchers listed, Leiter is the closest to Major League ready. Leiter, who was the 2nd overall pick in 2021, struggled in his first professional season with the Rangers. He had an ERA in the mid-5s to go along with a high WHIP (1.55) and walking over 5 per 9 innings pitched.

The other two names would interest me more. Owen White is ranked right behind Leiter in terms of Texas' prospect rankings. He reached Double-A last season after spending most of it at High-A. He had a 3.59 ERA with 104 strikeouts in 80.2 innings pitched. Porter was considered one of the top prep arms in the 2022 Major League Baseball Draft and is already ranked as a Top 5 prospect in the Rangers system. If the Rangers are willing to deal at least 2 of these 3 arms a deal could come together quickly.