Given reports have indicated that the Pittsburgh Pirates are looking to spend money this winter, it remains uncertain if the front office will want to move on from someone like Bryan Reynolds.
Reynolds has been a very good player during his time with the Pirates, but had a down year in 2025.
There are a few ways to look at what the Pirates might do, but if saving money on Reynolds' contract to add other, better players is in the works, it might not be the worst idea to cut ties with him.
There should be multiple teams around Major League Baseball interested in the switching outfielder, and Destiny Lugardo of Phillies Nation believes the Philadelphia Phillies could be one of them.
“A perpetual trade candidate, Reynolds is coming off a down year and thus won’t cost as much as he would have in 2022, 2023, 2024 or leading into 2025. There have been indications that the Pirates will actually spend this offseason — let’s see about that — but even if they do, Reynolds still probably doesn’t fit their current window. He turns 31 in January. Reynolds is under contract through the end of the 2030 season with a team option for 2031. That is a long time, but it’s a manageable price tag at $76 million guaranteed, an average of $15 million annually...
“The Pirates, even if they plan to actually try to improve this winter, will likely welcome the chance to shed Reynolds’ salary and allocate it to someone(s) who better fits their realistic timeline to contend. If a team like the Phillies were to absorb most or all of said salary, they wouldn’t have to trade as much to acquire Reynolds,” she wrote.
As she touched on, if the Pirates are trying to improve, it could result in the front office looking to move on from a player like Reynolds to save money.
While moving on from Reynolds might not seem to be the best plan, considering he's been one of the better players on the roster over the past few years, there are also some benefits in doing things this way.
Depending on what else Pittsburgh wants to do, perhaps it improves.