The Bryan Reynolds contract saga is over, and the Pirates' All-Star outfielder is staying in Pittsburgh.
Per sources, Reynolds and the club have agreed to an eight year, $106.75 million contract that runs through 2030 with a team option for 2031. The deal is pending a physical. When completed, it will be the largest ever in team history and for any outfielder who was drafted out of college.
There is a form of trade protection in the contract, which is a six-team no trade clause, but there is no opt-out in the agreed upon deal.
This is essentially the same contract the two sides had agreed to financially this spring, albeit with three key differences.
The first is the absence of a player opt-out. This was a late ask by Reynolds' side after the two sides had agreed to a dollar figure before opening day, with Reynolds and his camp believing they should get more because they had moved further off of their original ask. The Pirates balked at that, creating a stalemate for a new deal, though neither side was ready to move away from the negotiating table because of it.
An opt-out would have had the Pirates assume more risk on the deal, as Reynolds asked for it to be after the 2026 season. While the deal was backloaded, creating more short-term financial flexibility for the club, it only guaranteed the Pirates would have one more additional year of team control over Reynolds. Meanwhile, if Reynolds was to get hurt or struggle, he likely would choose to forgo the opt-out to make more money, meaning the club would be on the hook for a large contract for an underperforming player. As a result, the Pirates were not keen on giving in to that request to get the deal done.
The second difference is a club option, which was not included in that original contract. The 2031 club option would be for $20 million -- significantly higher than any other year of the agreed upon contract -- with a $2 million buyout.
Third is the inclusion of a limited no-trade clause that gives Reynolds the right to reject a trade to six teams. It had been 17 years since the Pirates had given any no-trade leverage to a player, the last three being Joe Randa, Salomón Torres and Jack Wilson back in 2006.
It is worth noting that Reynolds is scheduled to reach 10 years of service time in April of 2029. Assuming he is still a Pirate then, he will have 10-and-5 rights, which includes a full no-trade clause.
The structure of the deal goes as followed:
Signing bonus: $2 million
2023: $6.75 million, as originally agreed upon as part of his two-year, $13.5 million deal last April
2024: $10 million
2025: $12 million
2026: $14 million
2027: $15 million
2028: $15 million
2029: $15 million
2030: $15 million
2031: $20 million club option, $2 million buyout.
And in case that isn't official enough for your liking:
Reynolds is currently on the bereavement list and was not at PNC Park for comment Tuesday.
It has been quite the saga to get to this point. The Pirates and Reynolds talked briefly earlier this offseason about a long-term extension, but the two sides were more than $50 million apart. The Pirates offered 6 years, $80 million while Reynolds' camp wanted eight years, $134 million. After making little progress, Reynolds requested a trade shortly before the Winter Meetings in December, though the Pirates had no interest in trading him.
Throughout the process, there was a mutual desire to keep Reynolds a Pirate for the long-term. The trade request was part of the business of trying to create urgency to get the deal done, and that Reynolds' first desire was always to stay and help lead the Pirates to the postseason as long as he got what he felt was a fair extension.
"I don’t want either side of it to come out and be like, ‘Man, they kind of got us,’ " Reynolds said about what he wants out of a new deal during the first day of spring training. "I want it to be that both sides got some skin in it."
Before the Pirates began talking money again this spring, both Bob Nutting and Travis Williams had private conversations with Reynolds to try to repair the relationship and make sure that he knew he was a valued part of the organization.
"What is really urgent is that Bryan understands we want to have him as a Pirate," Nutting told me during spring training. "We respect him as a person and a player."
The general manager echoed the sentiment many times during the negotiation process.
"He’s someone we’d love to see here for a long time," Ben Cherington said most recently on April 12. "He’s really important to what we’re doing. Appreciate him a lot as a player."
That desire from Reynolds, the Pirates' baseball operations team and Nutting to make this deal come together is what ended up making it possible.
"There's been a lot there's been a lot of conversation over the last month and a half between Bryan’s people and our baseball ops people," Derek Shelton said. "I think it was important that Bryan and Bob talked, and that happened, and I think that was vital. I'm a big Bryan Reynolds fan, so hopefully he'll be a Pirate for a while.”
Reynolds was an All-Star in 2021 and has been one of the team's best hitters, helping lead the charge to their 16-7 record out of the game. So far this year, Reynolds is slashing .294/.319/.553 with five home runs and 18 RBIs.
This is the second consecutive April where the Pirates have set a new franchise record for largest contract. Last year, Ke'Bryan Hayes signed for eight years, $70 million, breaking the previous record held by Jason Kendall at $60 million.
Having those two locked up as franchise faces gives the Pirates some continuity in the lineup as they try to make the leap to contenders.
“I think consistency to a roster is really important," Shelton said. "Some of that comes when you sign people and some of it comes from when you're in your system because of the fact that guys come to the big leagues and you have that ability for them to be here. So, I think that's twofold. You have to be able, as we've seen this year, to supplement with guys externally. You continually want to make sure you have that good ebb and flow.”
The reaction from the Pirates' clubhouse can be found here.
