Reynolds says preference is for extension to happen before season

LAKELAND, Fla. -- The official word from Ben Cherington is there is nothing new to report on a potential contract extension between the Pirates and Bryan Reynolds.

"I would just be repeating what I said before, which is that we love Bryan Reynolds," Cherington told traveling media Friday afternoon. "We would like to have him here for a long time."

After taking batting practice on Publix Field in Lakeland, Fla. ahead of the Pirates' 6-6 tie with the Tigers, Reynolds responded, "I don’t have anything to report on that," when approached if there have been any new talks between the two camps.

And while there isn't a hard deadline for something to get done, the window of opportunity for it to get done this year may be closing.

Opening day in Cincinnati is just a week away, which is usually around when most spring training contract discussions end, one way or another. That is hardly a team or league rule, and the Pirates would be willing to keep talking if something doesn't come together.

"I think when it comes to contracts specifically, I would say that general preference -- and I think most players would have this general preference too -- to have those conversations outside, away from the regular season," Cherington said. "But we can have those conversations inside a season if everyone agrees it makes sense to. It's not a hard policy or any sort of hardline to say, 'opening day' and never pick up the phone again. That's not how we feel. We try to have the conversations outside of the season out of respect for the players and the team. Take them case by case after that."

That isn't necessarily the case on Reynolds' end. When asked if he would have a preference of getting it done by opening day rather than let it drag into the season, he opted for the former.

"I would say, yeah, before spring’s over," Reynolds said. "Then again, there’s nothing to report anyways. But if I was drawing up something, I’d want it to be done by spring."

Following up on that, Reynolds said "if I was drawing it up, it would be pretty firm."

While both sides have expressed interest this spring about keeping Reynolds with the Pirates long-term, no new offer was made between that trade request and before camp began. While the Pirates do not openly admit whether they are in contract talks with a player, the lack of updates from either end seems to indicate there hasn't been anything new on that front, though MLB Insider Jon Heyman tweeted Friday that the Pirates are trying to extend him.

That doesn't give the Pirates a lot of time to potentially get something together before Thursday afternoon in Cincinnati. They were able to beat the clock a year ago when they went from making their first extension offer to Ke'Bryan Hayes to agreeing to a franchise-record eight year, $70 million contract just hours before first pitch. That process took only six days.

"We've been able to in at least one case since I've been here able to find agreement with a player and be able to do that," Cherington said. "We want to be able to do that again with players and keep doing it. So that door will remain open with players."

Then again, there was no trade request looming over any talks when working out the Hayes extension.

That request was made just before the winter meetings last December after the two sides had exchanged figures. The Pirates' offer was in the range of six years, $80 million, while Reynolds' was around eight years, $130 million. Seeing the $50 million gap between the two sides, the request was leaked to try to draw interest in the All-Star outfielder.

The Pirates listened to trade offers, as they had in the past, but they had no serious interest in trading him.

Instead, a focus this spring for the Pirates was to make sure that the bridge isn't burnt and that Reynolds knows he is appreciated. That included multiple one-on-one conversations between Reynolds and Bob Nutting and Travis Williams.

"We want to make sure he knows how much we appreciate him," Nutting told DK Pittsburgh Sports earlier this spring. "We don’t want hard feelings to come out of what has been a very usual, very awkward and very strange process that has gotten us to this point. I think everyone is in the same mindset that we need to move beyond looking backwards. We need to start looking forward."

Nutting added to me that he was not going to get involved in a dollars or years sense with any Reynolds negotiations, though his preference is to keep the All-Star.

When asked if the relationship has improved -- or that if he feels appreciated -- Reynolds said he didn't know and that he was focusing no his baseball work. However, his demeanor this spring has been far from disgruntled.

"I talked to Bob," Reynolds said. "We had a fine conversation. I have nothing bad to say about anybody."

MORE FROM THE GAME

• Roansy Contreras' final tune up before the regular season did not go particularly smoothly, as he went just 3 1/3 innings with six hits, two earned runs and two walks allowed.

"I think his stuff wasn’t exactly how he wanted it to be today," catcher Tyler Heineman said. "The slider was backing up a little bit. He found his moments and made it work. He was pulling the fastball a little bit. I thought he did a good job managing it, the pitches just kind of went up."

He was scheduled to go four innings max, so it does look like he will be behind the rest of the starters once the season starts next week. It's hardly a major cause of concern, especially since the built in early off days gives the Pirates some flexibility with how they deploy their bullpen.

• I really think Ke'Bryan Hayes is on to something this spring with his new approach emphasizing getting backspin and his contact point out in front. He went 3-for-4 Friday, including a game-tying home run late.

He's now hitting .353 with four home runs and a 1.165 OPS this spring. That'll play.

Connor Joe, who looks like a very safe bet to make the opening day roster at this point, also had a couple hits and a home run.

"I think everything has been trending up," Joe said. "Couple back-field live BPs recently. It’s nice to string at-bats together a couple days in a row. Work’s been really good. Good, quality work. Kind of just narrowing the focus on the approach and figuring that stuff out with the hitting staff."

• Jose Hernandez, the Pirates' Rule 5 lefty, allowed four hits and two runs while only getting two outs in relief of Contreras. He's got the stuff, and Cherington spoke highly of him Friday.

"We’ve seen a lot of good things from Hernandez this spring," the general manager said. "He’s been in the strike zone. His stuff is clearly there."

But he can't keep leaving pitches here:

• Despite being arguably the Pirates' best performer this spring, Travis Swaggerty is not making the opening day roster. Both he and Tucupita Marcano were optioned before the game.

Talking with Derek Shelton before the game, it is not anything Swaggerty did wrong. The Pirates just weren't confident he could get enough at-bats in the majors, and after missing all of 2020 and almost all of 2021, they want him to play a full season.

"He needs to play," Shelton explained. "I think right now, as good of a camp as he’s had — and he’s had a good camp — we still had some guys that are ahead of him. We didn’t see the opportunity right now for every day at-bats. With the time that he’s missed over the last two years, we feel that every day at-bats are really important for him. I think the second part of it is we’ve seen considerable development during Spring Training, and we need to give those adjustments a pathway to work."

He left a really good impression. We'll see him in the majors at some point.