BRADENTON, Fla. – When asked Wednesday if the Pirates had discussed a long-term contract during arbitration negotiations, Bryan Reynolds said, “I haven’t heard anything about it.”
After reaching out to sources, I can report it more definitively: No, there were no multi-year discussions at all leading up to the deadline to exchange salary figures Tuesday. The Pirates made long-term offers in 2020 and 2021, but not this year.
And according to a league source, going off of a precedent, if a multi-year discussion hasn’t happened by the time salary figures are filed with the league, the odds are pretty low of it starting now.
Not that it sounds like it would even be much of a possibility from the Pirates’ side. Ben Cherington has said in the past that this is the time of year where long-term extensions are normally discussed because the team and agents are already talking contracts.
Now, all of the pre-arbitration players are signed, and Ke’Bryan Hayes – another player the Pirates made multi offers to in 2020 and 2021 – also did not have a long-term offer discussed.
The difference is Reynolds is going to arbitration, a potentially ugly process that rarely yields long-term deals once a player goes through it. Dejan Kovacevic reported last week that the Pirates are not trading Reynolds now, but the club is still willing to listen to offers. At some point, that could result in a trade. He’s under team control for three more seasons after 2022, so there’s no rush to trade him now, but that could change as he nears free agency.
There isn’t a definitive reason why this is going to arbitration.
One league source speculated the lockout is a factor, not only because it took away any potential December or January contract discussions that could be fruitful, but because some players and clubs are more inclined to go to an arbitrator because they have the taste of those tense labor negotiations still in their mouths. I’m not inclined to believe the latter for Reynolds or the Pirates. Reynolds has expressed his fondness for Pittsburgh and the organization many times – even on Wednesday – and the club went significantly over the usually reliable MLB Trade Rumors arbitration model to sign Chris Stratton ($2.2 million projection, $2.7 million actual salary, a 23% increase).
Whatever the reason may be, the Pirates will have to either break their file-and-trial precedent and sign someone after salary figures have been exchanged, or potentially risk harming their relationship with their best player for a $650,000 difference in salary ($4.9 million from Reynolds’ camp, $4.25 from the team).
MORE PIRATES
2. The Reynolds case looks abhorrent from the Pirates' standpoint and, at least in my opinion, it is. He's their best player, and spending $675,000 to bridge the bids would be worth every penny in public damage alone. But, as someone who covered countless arbitration cases in my beat days, I can directly attest that the numbers a team submits comes with advice from the commissioner's office. (This was Frank Coonelly's principal role in that office before coming to Pittsburgh.) And if that advice is ignored, all other teams end up in arms over it because the system then gets skewed. Agents would tell me this all the time, and I even heard it once from a team executive.
Again, I'm not suggesting the Pirates shouldn't make an exception. They should. Just offering full context. -- Dejan Kovacevic
3. This isn't coming from a Pirates source, but I asked a member of a different front office if they could project what Reynolds will earn in his four years of arbitration. Their best estimate was about $40-45 million. -- Stumpf
4. The Pirates only signed one free agent starter this winter, José Quintana, and it's far from guaranteed that he will stay in that role all year. Even if he doesn't he's leaving a mark with Roansy Contreras and Miguel Yajure, who appreciate having a veteran they can lean on this camp. When I asked Yajure what's stood out about him, he answered, "He’s a veteran, but he wants to always keep learning.” -- Stumpf
5. Something I picked up on in minor-league camp was that Henry Davis was catching mostly off of one knee. He told me he's going to do a lot of that in 2022, even with runners on base. Some catchers originally opted for it because it helps put them in a better position to frame low pitches, but Davis believes it can help him stay athletic and get good pop times to throw down to bases too. -- Stumpf
6. The Pirates liked Daniel Vogelbach as a free agent before the lockout, but after talking about him with new hitting coach Andy Haines, who worked with him with the Brewers last year, they took Haines' endorsement to heart and pulled the trigger. -- Stumpf
7. It was good to see Jim Leyland still involved with the Tigers this past week. You can tell he still loves being around the game. -- Stumpf
STEELERS
8. Stephon Tuitt has been in the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex a couple of times recently. Just one more sign that he's intent on playing in 2022. Perhaps Mike Tomlin or Kevin Colbert will provide a little more clarity on the situation this weekend at the NFL meetings. -- Dale Lolley on the South Side
9. If the Steelers are not interested in acquiring a quarterback in this draft, they're doing a bad job of disguising it. Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert and Matt Canada have made a show of being at the pro days thus far for Pitt's Kenny Pickett, Liberty's Malik Willis, Mississippi's Matt Corral and Cincinnati's Desmond Ridder. Ridder's was the most recent, happening Thursday. It will be interesting to see if Tomlin makes it to North Carolina's pro day, which is scheduled for Monday. That's where Sam Howell will work out. The guess here is he will not. Tomlin is part of the NFL's competition committee, and it meets during the league's spring meeting, which kicks off Sunday and runs through Wednesday. But there's a good chance Colbert and Canada make it to North Carolina. -- Lolley
10. How intent are the Steelers to make sure they have Tomlin, Colbert and Canada have eyes on each of these top quarterbacks? Tomlin and Colbert skipped the Penn State pro day Thursday to go to Cincinnati. It's the first time in a long time they've missed that one. They also skipped Ohio State's pro day on Wednesday to go to Ole Miss and see Corral. Again, if the Steelers' interest in this quarterback class isn't real, despite signing Mitch Trubisky in free agency, they're doing a one heck of a smokescreen. -- Lolley
11. So, does this mean the Steelers are definitely taking a quarterback in this draft? Not at all. Chances are, they'd jump at the chance to take Willis with the 20th pick in the draft. And, as I reported a while back in this space, they like Pickett enough to take him at 20 -- if there isn't a position player with a much higher ranking available at a position of need. Beyond those two, it might be a stretch at this point to think they'll take one of those players in the first round unless they identify that player as a potential long-term solution at the position. The Trubisky signing means the Steelers don't have to have a quarterback in this draft. They've got three quarterbacks on the roster. But they're still doing their due diligence. And you also never know what will happen if someone drops into the second round, how far that player will drop or which quarterback it might be. -- Lolley
12. The Steelers remain interested in re-signing safety Terrell Edmunds. But the longer things go, the lower his deal gets. The safety market as a whole has been slow. Marcus Williams, D.J. Reed and Justin Reid have been the only safeties who have gotten deals that average $10 million or more. And only 11 safeties overall have signed new deals. Because of that, the Steelers can play the long game with Edmunds. But they won't wait too long on him. They'll obviously want to have someone on the roster at that spot before the draft. -- Lolley
13. I'm told the Steelers were interested in potentially re-signing JuJu Smith-Schuster. In fact, despite what his mother said on social media, I'm told the Steelers did make him an offer. What they weren't interested in was building in the incentives the Chiefs did to make that deal as worth as much as the $10.75 million it was initially reported at. The reality is that Smith-Schuster's base deal, a $1.035 million salary, $1.455 million signing bonus, $150,000 roster bonus and $250,000 workout bonus all were within the Steelers' price range for Smith-Schuster. But they weren't going to give him the opportunity to make much more than that, unlike the Chiefs who built in easily reachable incentives -- especially now that Tyreek Hill is gone -- for things such as reaching 50 catches and some pretty low yardage marks. Smith-Schuster's gift from the Steelers came last season, when they paid him $8 million for five games and 15 catches. The Chiefs, however, didn't mind building in those additional incentives, likely knowing they were going to trade Hill. -- Lolley
14. One of the good things that could come out of losing Smith-Schuster is that it will take a potential distraction away from Chase Claypool. Claypool looked up to Smith-Schuster as a mentor when it came to how he created "his brand." Maybe after seeing his mentor sign a one-year deal that right now paid him just $2.89 million in straight salary and signing bonus on the open market will help Claypool realize that you don't have a "brand" if you don't produce on the field. -- Lolley
15. David DeCastro's only 32 and still keeping himself in exceptional shape, but all indications I'm getting are that he's leaning toward retirement. -- Kovacevic
PENGUINS
16. It won't be easy bouncing players up and down from Wilkes-Barre due to salary cap constrictions, but one forward who's expected to get another chance, from what I heard in Buffalo this week, is Drew O'Connor. Partly because he's produced at a point-a-game in the AHL since returning from the collapsed lung -- six goals, eight assists in 14 games -- but also because he's learning how to kill penalties. The arrangement Mike Sullivan's used at the NHL in the two games since Zach Aston-Reese was traded has seen Teddy Blueger double-rotate through the pairings of a five-forward group. Ideally, that figure's at six. And that, coupled with Brian Boyle's age -- my goodness, did he look slow on the second of back-to-back games in Buffalo -- sets the stage for O'Connor. -- Kovacevic
17. The greatest impact of the departure of Aston-Reese, who went to Anaheim Monday in the Rickard Rakell trade, probably is on the Penguins' penalty-kill. With Brock McGinn injured and unavailable, Aston-Reese's spot on that unit has been filled for the past five games -- Aston-Reese missed three because of illness before he was traded -- by Bryan Rust. He has filled the role effectively and has been on the ice while the Penguins are short-handed anywhere from a low of 2:08 in Buffalo Wednesday to a high of 3:54 in St. Louis last week, but there's an obvious risk in having a top-six forward to handle such duty. Killing penalties often requires forwards to be aggressive shot-blockers, and if Rust would get a broken foot or hand when struck by a puck, the impact of his absence on the Penguins could be enormous. Players obviously can be injured while playing at even-strength -- Jake Guentzel got a broken knuckle when struck by a shot in Seattle in December -- but the danger rises when a team is down a man. -- Dave Molinari in New York
18. Brian Burke played college hockey at Providence. Ron Hextall prepped for the NHL by playing for Brandon in the Western Hockey League. But while both are strong-willed, neither believes the route he took to pro hockey is guaranteed to be the best one for Penguins prospects. "It's like a shoe store," Burke said. "You have a hockey player and say, 'What kind of shoes is he going to get?' Well, you don't say, 'He's buying size 9, black dress shoes.' You say, 'Let's measure him, try a few pairs on and see what fits.' There's no one formula that fits every player. Some players should go to major junior. No question. Some players should go to college. We don't have a preference. We try to let the kid decide what's best for him." -- Molinari
19. If the Penguins are unable to keep Kris Letang when he becomes an unrestricted free agent, should they also investigate trading his usual partner, Brian Dumoulin, before next season? Dumoulin has been counted on to be the reliable defensive presence on that pairing, the guy who made it possible for Letang to get involved in the offense, but he's had a mostly pedestrian season so far and recently was replaced briefly by Mike Matheson on the top pairing. When that happened, Dumoulin worked alongside John Marino, possibly auditioning for a long-term spot there if Letang leaves and management determines that Marino would be a worthy successor as their right-hander on that pairing. -- Molinari
20. Hextall and Burke have been working together for a little more than a year now, and they've proven to be effective tag-team partners. They haven't been aggressive in remaking the Penguins' roster, but most of the moves they've made -- trading for Jeff Carter and Rakell, claiming Mark Friedman off waivers, signing Brock McGinn as a free agent -- have worked out well. What's more, their personalities are a nice match. Hextall prefers to keep a low profile and tends to dole out information and insights to the press and public in small doses, while Burke thrives in the spotlight and has a good sense of what people outside the organization would like to know, while not divulging any key secrets. -- Molinari
21. Rakell's wife Emmeli and two dogs Heinz and Stella won't be joining him in the move to Pittsburgh this season and will remain in Anaheim. Rakell's wife is six months pregnant with the couple's first child, a daughter due at the end of June. If the Penguins are to make a deep run in the playoffs, Rakell will be cutting things pretty close, with the last possible day of the Stanley Cup Final currently scheduled for June 30. He did make sure to install the baby's car seat before leaving for the other side of the country. -- Taylor Haase at PPG Paints Arena
