The Pittsburgh Pirates officially announced the big news from yesterday. They have signed Bryan Reynolds to a deal through the 2030 season, with a team option for 2031.
OFFICIAL: We have signed OF Bryan Reynolds to a new contract through the 2030 season, with a club option for 2031. pic.twitter.com/I2OlYqb6gP
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 26, 2023
That announcement was followed by this highlight video of Reynolds, along with the title “Here to stay”.
Here to stay. 💛 pic.twitter.com/qtA0TiDtE3
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 26, 2023
The Pirates also released a brief statement from owner Bob Nutting on the signing of Reynolds
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 26, 2023
General Manager Ben Cherington released this quote on the signing:
“We are thrilled to reach this agreement with Bryan. He is a player we trust on and off the field,” said Cherington. “This agreement is an important step toward our shared goal of building a championship team in Pittsburgh.”
Tim Williams took a look at what this signing means for the Pirates.
The Pirates have now locked up Reynolds and Ke’Bryan Hayes to long-term deals. They also have a core group of young players who are under team control for the rest of this year and the next five years, such as Roansy Contreras, Oneil Cruz, Ji-hwan Bae, Rodolfo Castro, plus they have numerous top prospects in the upper levels of the minors. Keeping Reynolds around with that base group is a positive sign for things to come.
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
Looks like Bolton up, CSN down. Probably more to it than that.
Maggi apparently still around. Sentimentality aside, CSN to Maggi is not an upgrade.
But CSN has a future potentially, and sometime in triple a might help him get back in sync. Maggi is expendable, even if he is a good story.
Crowe to IL with ERA discomfort.
After years of playing through it finally got bad enough for him, I think the remedy is for him to stay in AAA.
CSN has not been playing much. He is probably going down to play every day to get back in sync. Not helping much right now
Not helping at all. Neither will Maggi. But Andujar and Josh Palacios are hot.
I’ve only seen them without make up so can’t really give much of an opinion.
Velasquez is becoming an interesting case to sign now for a 2 year deal beyond this year. Last winter we spent $8 million on Rich Hill and $3.1 million on Velasquez. If we wait till the end of the year, and VV is pitching well, then it is unlikely we sign him, as he will go to the highest bidder. So, can we get him on a decent two-year deal now? There is risk, sure, but the risk of not doing it is to pay $8-10 million for a Rich Hill type on a one year deal (and this isn’t to say Hill is not good, just that he is a measure for what $8 million on a one-year deal will bring back). At some point we do need to take some risk with starting pitching and not just use players-under-control and players-on-one-year-deals.
All the management is cheap complaints die today. This is the future of the Pirates even if this contract doesn’t pan out which I’m almost certain it will. It says they are invested in the future of baseball in Pittsburgh and need the fans to get on board. Im very excited to see this team grow and if all the prospects pan out we should be hanging some banners soon in the Burgh. I feel like today is like the scene in Secretariat when they are washing the horse dancing and singing oh happy day.
The nature of the comments will likely change, but comments will still be here, and legit ones – will he spend enough to ensure the team can be a champion? How high is he willing to push the payroll? $150M? More? For right now though I’m happy.
With 10k in attendance on the daily, you will never see $150M… ever. I know it’s early in the season, and schools run thru early-June, but seeing all those empty seats, jeez. Hope the summer is a different story.
When the temperature goes up so will attendance.
Well let’s lead the way in positivety
Heck, several teams with big payrolls have fans that say that the ownership is still cheap because the expensive players they have are not performing well enough and they want as
bianco599 said….
Agree totally John. Feels good at the moment but sooner or later we will all want more, more, more.
Life is good, baby.
Will be at the park today, hopefully newly extended Brey is back!
I don’t think he’s eligible to come back till tomorrow. Today would be game 3 I think.
He most certainly will be back! Hoping you catch a W and a HR from BRey! (Catch as in actual catch depending on where you’re seated works too)
The only negative to this is that it likely means that Maggi will be sent down without an appearance.
Glad that turned out not to be true. Imagine how happy he must be after toiling in the minors for so long, even if he did strike out.
It was pretty neat, and he did make good contact twice. Maybe he’ll get another chance before being sent back down.
I was listening to the Bucs in the Basement podcast which drops every Wednesday earlier today. Now it was recorded before the Reynolds extension news, but after the sweep of Reds.
I was flabbergasted the host Craig and his guest Rob B started talking about which Pirates vets were most likely to be dealt this summer. Seriously?
The team is in 1st place. Has the best record in the NL, and the title of the podcast is “Positive Vibes about the Pirates,” and you guys start talking about what if Santana and Cutch are traded this summer. WTF!!!
Craig, if you’re reading this, you owe your listeners an apology. You screw the pooch on this podcast, brother. You’re a good dude, but you and Rob B were completely tone deaf on this podcast. Please do better!
I think he just figures we won’t sustain this, and he’s looking at the fact that a lot of these guys are on one year deals, plus the fact we got a few guys in the miners that might be able to replace them mid season.
I do wonder depending on how the next few months go if we might do similar to the orioles next year, maybe tactfully buy and sell while overall strengthening for next year
Man would I be pissed to be an Orioles fan, that owner did absolutely nothing to support the core that took off at the end of last season.
Build a real rotation and that club might be a Division champ.
Sort of a variation on the 2015-16 Pirates, not investing in success.
Let’s hope Nutters has learned his lesson where that’s concerned.
Exactly my thought.
Right down to 36 yo Kyle Gibson being their version of our $10m Jon Niese savior.
Congrats to BRey and his family. Hoping this deal is looked back on in years to come as the agreement which laid the foundation for an incredible run of success, for him as a player and the Pirates as a team, for the next 8 years.
Let’s Go Bucs!
Any one know when he is returning to the team?
I read he’s expected back today.
Thanks. I am going to put in back in his rightful position as one of my fantasy league OF’s.
Incoming celebratory homers from BRey?
I think we’ll see an announcement on the big screen at the park when he steps up to the plate and they’ll run the video from above.
I’m hoping for one from each side of the plate.