Cherington: Door 'will continue to be open' for Reynolds

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- On Wednesday, Bryan Reynolds gave his side of why he made a trade request after contract extension talks with the Pirates did not get very far.

It was the first time Reynolds has gone on the record. Ben Cherington was not as lucky, as the request came the day before the winter meetings in December, meaning he had to answer the whole week -- and the rest of the offseason -- about Reynolds' future.

And if your takeaway from what Reynolds said is not much has changed between December and now, Cherington will probably reenforce it. When asked about Reynolds Thursday, Cherington said he has no updates in terms of contract news.

"Certainly the door has been open, will continue to be open," Cherington said at Grapefruit League media day in Dunedin, Fla. "I would hope we have more of a chance to talk more about it."

Reynolds stated Wednesday that his first choice is still to sign a long-term extension with the Pirates. There's plenty of frustration in this set up, but also admiration on Cherington's part.

"We respect and appreciate who Bryan is, as we've said before," Cherington said. "He looks terrific. He's here in Bradenton. He's had a great offseason. I think he's prepared for a really strong season. As I've said earlier this offseason, our focus is to get better, and he's a big part of that."

• Ji-Man Choi has yet to report to Pirates camp this spring, which is understandable considering he had an arbitration case to go through and the first full team workout isn't until Feb. 20. 

The Pirates may have added a bit more tension to their early relationship whenever they requested that he not participate in the World Baseball Classic. Choi had surgery on his right elbow this winter which was presented as minor.

Choi's recovery has gone as planned, but "it hasn't been very long" since he started taking batting practice again, according to Cherington.

The expectation is there won't be any restrictions on him when he enters camp, but the Pirates preferred that he not take place in the Classic.

"His offseason was different than they had been in the past. And, yes, that was part of the conversation about the WBC," Cherington said. "At the time those decisions were made, it wasn't clear that he was going to be fully ready to participate in a way that you'd want a player to be. So we had some concern about that and had a conversation with him."

• Roansy Contreras, on the other hand, will take part in the Classic, even if the team is going to be monitoring his innings again this year. He went from pitching about 75 competitive innings in 2021 to almost 130 last year, and the team is hoping that he makes another jump in innings in 2023.

Mapping out that jump is going to have to wait until the Classic.

"We’re gonna have to see when he comes back where he’s at and how that goes," Derek Shelton said. "We’ll have a better indication when he comes back from the WBC."

For Contreras, it's a chance to rub elbows with some of the other elite Dominican players in the game, like Cy Young winner Sandy Alcántara, who will definitely have his brain picked by the young Pirate.

“I love it," Contreras said through interpreter Stephen Morales. "It’s a hell of an opportunity. I'm going to take advantage of it and give 100 percent for my country.”

• Back to Grapefruit League media day, commissioner Rob Manfred spoke on an issue that pertains to many teams this spring, including the Pirates: Teams not receiving their expecting broadcasting money. Diamond Sports Group, which own Bally Sports -- one of the largest broadcasters in the league for RSNs -- is set to go bankrupt, and according to a report by Sportico, the AT&T SportsNet teams have not received full payment for their broadcasts.

Manfred said the commissioner's office will step in for distribution of game broadcasts if the issue persists and teams experience difficulties because of the missed payments. That would be a digital offering, which he sees as the future. When asked about the five-year vision, there would still be some cable market, but digital will be bigger and blackouts would end.

"I hope we get to the point on the digital side that when you go to MLB.tv, you can buy whatever the heck you want," Manfred said. "You can buy out of market, you can buy local games, you can buy two sets of local games, whatever you want. That is, to me, the definition of what is going to be the definition of a valuable digital offering go forward."

• Andrew McCutchen was originally going to show up to camp this weekend. Instead, he showed up early. 

Ok, he's officially back.