Bryan Reynolds isn’t exactly the type to overanalyze things. He also really enjoys playing in Pittsburgh.
Which is why the Pirates outfielder has been mostly tuning out the trade talk that has oddly engulfed him, a player who at the beginning of the season was thought to be a building block in Pittsburgh.
“That’s part of the game, I guess,” Reynolds told the Post-Gazette last week. “People talk about that, but obviously I don’t want to get traded. That’s not on my mind.
“I’m just trying to hit the ball on the barrel. That other stuff is above my pay grade. I don’t worry about that.”
Good for Reynolds, because the idea of trading him makes absolutely zero sense.
The Pirates began this season knowing they needed to either establish or strengthen their building blocks for a push toward better days in 2023, 2024 and beyond.
Aside from Reynolds, that meant Ke’Bryan Hayes and Mitch Keller. After an early-season injury, Hayes mostly lived up to his billing. Keller has not, which is why he’s in the minors.
Overshadowed by other sources of frustration, what Reynolds has done thus far has actually been a hugely important part of the Pirates and their future, a storyline that should probably be discussed more.
Especially considering that Reynolds, no matter what, remains under club control through 2025.
Entering Monday’s games, Reynolds ranked third among all National League hitters in June with a 1.059 OPS, trailing only San Diego’s Tommy Pham (1.061), as well as the player he was traded for and the Pirates’ previous cornerstone, Andrew McCutchen, at 1.126.
Overall, Reynolds is sixth among all NL players in on-base percentage (.394), batting average (.299) and slugging percentage (.529). His .922 OPS as an outfielder is surpassed by just three players in all of baseball.
It’s exactly what the Pirates and Reynolds were looking for after he hit just .182 with a .632 OPS in 55 games last season.
“The thing that really stands out to me are his contact points,” manager Derek Shelton said. “It looks like he’s getting the ball in front of the plate on a more consistent basis.
“At times last year, the ball beat him, whether it was because of timing or the contact point. But he’s in a better position to hit, his contact points are farther out, and that’s why you’re seeing him drive the ball.”
After Reynolds, who’s on pace for more than 25 homers, admitted that he struggled with his timing in 2020, it’s been glaringly obvious that it has returned in 2021, with a nice addition of power to boot.
“I feel good up there,” Reynolds said. “Timing is good, so just trying to keep it rolling and keep putting the barrel on the ball more than anything.”
How well Reynolds has been playing is probably what’s driving the inclusion of his name into possible trade talks, but it wouldn’t be a smart move for a few different reasons.
If the Pirates would decide to trade Reynolds, they’d surely net a pretty good haul. But at what cost? Those players would likely be 3-4 years away from reaching the major leagues, extending the boundary for competitive baseball in Pittsburgh a little more.
Meanwhile, if the Pirates are orienting themselves for a push in 2023, 2024 or 2025, they’re going to need a few established players like Reynolds to be here and provide consistent production.
That could be one reason why general manager Ben Cherington answered the way he did Saturday when he was essentially asked whether anyone on his current roster was untouchable.
“Obviously there are going to be players we value extremely highly and we see as a big part of our future,” Cherington said. “I think you want to keep the phone on, but that doesn’t mean you’re actively marketing players. We’re responding to interest, and in some cases, it just doesn’t go very far. In other cases, it might.”
What the Pirates have with Reynolds, honestly, is more an opportunity than a trade piece. An opportunity to prove to their fans that they’re serious about the rebuild and keeping players here the way they did with McCutchen, Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco and Francisco Cervelli.
Speaking of McCutchen, it’s become an interesting comparison and not just because he and Reynolds were traded for one another (along with Kyle Crick).
During McCutchen’s first two seasons as a Pirate, he played in 262 games and amassed 1,003 at-bats. The former franchise player produced 28 home runs, 110 RBIs and an .824 OPS. In his first 257 games and 920 at-bats, Reynolds had 35 homers, 123 RBIs and an .842 OPS.
Will Reynolds turn out to be a better player than McCutchen? That’s tough to predict. At the same time, would it be money well spent to sign him to a long-term extension and make sure he’s a huge, visible part of this thing? Yeah, it probably would, assuming Reynolds would be interested.
A key here involves Reynolds’ Super 2 status and the fact that he’ll get four cracks at arbitration instead of the usual three. It should allow Reynolds to make more money and deservedly so, assuming he continues to produce.
But the Pirates would be wise to buy out those years and also perhaps a couple free agent seasons, during which Reynolds will still only be in his early 30s. If they did the contract right, the sum total might not be a ton more than they would inevitably spend through arbitration.
Meanwhile, the downside or risk is minimized given Reynolds’ age, temperament and consistency throughout his career, dating back to college and high school. Last year was the only time other than the 2018 Arizona Fall League when Reynolds didn’t hit at least .300.
Any sort of extension wouldn’t fully extinguish the fan frustration that exists. At the same time, it could convince skeptics that maybe, just maybe, the Pirates are going to approach this rebuild differently than they have other pushes in the past.
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