Bryan Reynolds agrees to eight-year extension with Pirates

It has honestly felt like Bryan Reynolds has been on the minds of Yankees fans since his strong rookie season in 2019. It was so tempting to imagine the switch-hitting outfielder donning the pinstripes one day since the Pirates appeared to be in a perpetual rebuild and Reynolds himself seemed to gradually grow more frustrated with the organization, even asking for a trade as recently as this past offseason.

However, everything is simply a tactic until moves actually happen on paper, and as it turns out, the word around the baseball industry was that Reynolds actually did want to stay in Pittsburgh. It was just about getting the right price from notorious penny-pinching Pirates owner Bob Nutting. At the end of March, Reynolds and the Pirates had come to terms on a general framework, but there were still plenty of i’s to dot and t’s to cross.

Now, Reynolds and the Bucs have figured it out. He will not be donning pinstripes anytime in the remote future, as he agreed to an eight-year, $106.75 million contract extension:

In another part of this tweet thread, FanSided reporter Robert Murray noted that this is the first time in 17 years that the Pirates have included no-trade protection in a contract. Reynolds won’t have an opt-out, but he will have the ability to control his own destiny should the suddenly-intriguing Pirates go back into the tank.

For as long as Reynolds has been linked to the Yankees by various outlets, I’ve always maintained a general skepticism. It can be very difficult to pry away talented young players like that from their teams, especially when they had so long to go to reach free agency. Even if Reynolds hadn’t signed an extension with Pittsburgh, he wouldn’t have been a free agent until after the 2025 campaign. The two sides had a lot of time to work through their differences, and no matter how much some Yankees fans want to stomp their feet and kvetch about how the Pirates should just give up their superstars and Brian Cashman should snap his fingers to make it come to pass, it’s never that simple. If there’s a legitimate desire for an extension, then it will happen; just ask José Ramírez.

So Reynolds will not be available to the Yankees at the trade deadline this year. If their lineup continues to struggle, then they will have to come up with another solution to help bail out their issues with depth and roster construction.