If the Pittsburgh Pirates ever want its fans to trust it again, trading Bryan Reynolds has to be first on the list of things they should not do.

If the Pittsburgh Pirates ever want its fans to trust it again, extending Bryan Reynolds should be the first on the list of things they should do. 

It seems the Pirates are reaching a climax with their all-star outfielder. They are heading into an arbitration hearing over $650,000. But the fact that that is the amount of money that the team is willing to fight over, to ruin their relationship with their best player is ridiculous. 

General Manager Ben Cherington is entering his third season with Pittsburgh, and fans are starting to get a feel of his process. It was exciting to move on from former GM Neal Huntington who, despite being there for the Pirates 2013-15 playoff run, was widely criticized for trading valuable players for mediocre players or prospects, prospects that fans knew would eventually be traded away in a vicious cycle.

But this Reynolds ordeal is quickly turning fans against the new GM. Reynolds is by far their best player. In 2021 he led the team in hits, doubles, triples, home runs, RBIs and walks. He had the second-highest batting average behind former second baseman Adam Frazier, the highest OBP and the highest slugging percentage.

Reynolds is an offensive machine on a team that, in 2021, was one of the worst offenses in baseball. Without Reynolds (and without Frazier who was traded midseason), Pittsburgh would have had one of the worst offensive teams in recent memory.

He was a finalist for the Gold Glove award, showing how versatile he is as a player.

Let’s be honest, the Pirates are still a few years away from being able to contend for a serious playoff run. And that isn’t even a sure thing, it is up to Cherington to ensure manager Derek Shelton has the tools to make this happen. 

Letting a player of Reynold’s caliber go to arbitration over such a small amount of money is asinine. Reynolds deserves more than what the Pirates will ever offer him, so to go to arbitration with him makes little sense. 

It also makes me concerned about the player-team relationship in the future. Sure, both sides know that this is a business. And Reynolds knows that the Pirates can be very cheap with their contracts. But it is very possible Reynolds will not even listen to future offers from the Pirates when his contract is up. He is nearing the prime of his career, and he isn’t going to want to waste that when he could be making the most money he’ll ever make.

And let’s not forget the trade rumors. There were reports that Cherington was listening to trade proposals from teams like the Padres and Marlins. Now listening to a trade offer and seriously discussing one are two very different things, but it provided a good insight to Pittsburgh’s mindset.

Reynolds being on this team during the rebuild isn’t super important to them. He’s an expensive player, and it is worth questioning if the Pirates think that money could be used toward other younger players who will be in their prime after this rebuild. 

Cherington’s outcome with the Reynolds situation will most likely define how he is perceived by a fanbase that already has an immense amount of distrust towards the organization. A mishandling of this may send him down the road of Huntington, a road of hatred and memes about their incompetence.

Statistics courtesy of Baseball Reference.