SAN DIEGO -- There were going to be Bryan Reynolds trade rumors regardless at this week's Winter Meetings, but they're going to be even louder now, as Reynolds has requested a trade from the Pirates.
A reason for the request is not yet known, and the team is not planning on honoring the request as of right now.
“While it is disappointing, this will have zero impact on our decision-making this off-season or in the future," a team spokesman said in a released statement. "Our goal is to improve the Pirates for 2023 and beyond. With three years until he hits free agency, Bryan remains a key member of our team. We look forward to him having a great season for the Pirates.”
Reynolds is under contact for 2023 on the second year of a two-year, $13.5 million contract he signed in April to avoid arbitration. He also has two years of arbitration control remaining for 2024 and 2025.
Reynolds has been the subject of plenty of trade talks the last two years. The Pirates have traded away many of their top major-leaguers over the past two calendar years, though they never actively shopped Reynolds. But they were willing to hear other teams' offers, keeping his name on the hot stove.
When asked about Reynolds' future with the club during a Zoom call with reports last month, Ben Cherington reiterated his appreciation for Reynolds, but did not shut down the idea of listening to offers for him again.
"We really appreciate Bryan Reynolds for who he is," Cherington said. "He's a really good player. We're lucky to have him on our team. We're trying to build a better team in 2023 and beyond. We’re at a point in the offseason, as we get into this period between now and January, that we’ve got to focus all of our energy on that (goal) and we’ve got to look at every possible way that we can help the Pirates get better in 2023 and beyond. We have to continue to keep an open mind as we work through that."
The last couple years had other perceived strains outside of just trade rumors, including initially failing to settle on a deal to avoid arbitration back in March -- this would eventually be resolved with the aforementioned two-year contract he signed after a couple weeks of drama -- and being one of the few players who has endured the entirety of one of the worst three-year stretches in franchise history.
At the end of this season, Reynolds had still expressed a willingness to be one of the players the Pirates build around.
"Obviously I want to be a part of it," Reynolds responded in the final homestand of the season when asked if he wants to be a centerpiece of the Pirates moving forward. "Anyway I can be part of it, I'll be happy."
The two sides had also engaged in long-term extension talks at various points during his time with the club, though nothing came from it.
A report from Jon Heyman states that Reynolds was offered a deal that would have surpassed Ke'Bryan Hayes' 8-year, $70 million deal as the largest in team history.
Pirates offered to make Reynolds the highest paid Pirate in team history by total $, which means more than Ke’Bryan Hayes’ $70M deal. That says something, but fairly, not that much since Reynolds has much more service time and is a more accomplished big leaguer.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 3, 2022
While the Pirates have expressed interest in trading Reynolds, he has made himself one of the main characters of this Winter Meetings. He is one of the premium players at his position, slashing .262/.345/.461 with a career-high 27 home runs in 2022.
His best season came in 2021, where he hit .302 with 24 home runs, 90 RBIs, was worth 6 WAR, earned a Gold Glove nomination in center field and started in center in the All-Star game.
Acquired from the Giants in 2018 in the Andrew McCutchen trade, Reynolds made his major-league debut in 2019, and with the exception of the abbreviated 2020 campaign, he has consistently been one of the best -- if not the best -- players on the team.
If he was traded, it could bring back a big haul for the Pirates, especially since the center field market is thin. Such a trade could also be counterintuitive of what they've been working on this winter.
Most of the Pirates' offseason focus has been centered around improving the 2023 team, signing Carlos Santana and trading for Ji-Man Choi thus far. There's hope in the system that they are closer to competing, and dealing away Reynolds could potentially push back the start of their competitive window.
With his future up in the air, the only thing that can be said for certain is Reynolds' name is going to come up in plenty of conversations at the Winter Meetings.