Over the weekend, some big news broke from Pittsburgh.
Bryan Reynolds, the Pittsburgh Pirates star outfielder, requested a trade from the team just a few days ahead of the Winter Meetings.
Reynolds made his debut with the team in 2019 after being acquired the year before from the San Francisco Giants in the Andrew McCutchen trade.
All throughout the young outfielder’s tenure with the Pirates, the team has failed to put together a postseason contender, with their last winning season coming in 2018.
On Twitter, Pirates analyst Kody Duncan expressed empathy for Reynolds, saying that he deserved better from the franchise, and that even if the team’s offer for a contract extension was a good one, the Pirates ultimately foiled their own plans by not trying to build around him.
Bryan Reynolds deserved better from this franchise.
Even if the offer the Pirates reportedly gave him was a great deal, the damage was done when they refused to “try” for his entire tenure here.
— Kody Duncan (@KodyDuncanPGH) December 5, 2022
Reynolds Requests A Trade
Pittsburgh is lucky to have Ke’Bryan Hayes locked up for the next seven seasons.
Otherwise, the team could be in an even worse position than they are right now.
The Pirates truly have a promising young star in Reynolds.
While the Pirates are a small-market team and resources are somewhat limited, there was still a way to try and make the team competitive.
Perhaps following the example of the Tampa Bay Rays, who are essentially the perfect model of how a small-market organization should be run, could have helped the Pirates assemble a contending team.
Unfortunately, the team rarely made any bargain-type free agent moves, nor did they make any trades to acquire any talent.
And thus, Reynolds wants a trade, and may soon be on his way out.
