There have been some whispers that perhaps the Pirates would move Bryan Reynolds from the outfield to first base but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards. “It sounds like I’m a right fielder,” Reynolds said today, per Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “It helps to focus on that. Just focusing on that, being a right fielder.” He added that moving from left to right seemed to be “more of a permanent” transition “for now.”
Reynolds has spent his entire career in the outfield, playing all three spots, but the first base rumors started late last year. Back in September, manager Derek Shelton told Hiles that Reynolds had been talking about playing first for years and had recently got a first baseman’s glove.
The Pirates acquired Spencer Horwitz this offseason and he seemed to be slated to be the club’s regular first baseman. However, it was recently revealed that he has undergone wrist surgery and will be sidelined for six to eight weeks. That means the Bucs will need to find alternative solutions there, at least for the beginning of the season.
Despite Reynolds having an interest in the position, it’s understandable that the Bucs don’t want to put him there right now, as it would just further thin out an outfield that already has some questions. Center field is going to be manned by former shortstop Oneil Cruz, who only has 195 innings of experience at his new position. It seems like the favorite for left field is Tommy Pham, who is about to turn 37 years and has has an up-and-down career of late.
Moving Reynolds in to take first would leave a hole on the grass to be filled by a clump of guys including Joshua Palacios, Adam Frazier, Jack Suwinski and Ji Hwan Bae. Next to Cruz and Pham, that doesn’t have the making of a strong group.
Moving from left to right is somewhat notable for Reynolds, as right field is the outfield position he’s played the least. He was primarily a center fielder earlier in his career before moving to left field in the past two years. He does have 398 innings in right, though that’s far less than the 3,062 1/3 frames he’s logged in left.
Metrics are divided on his work in left, as he has four Defensive Runs Saved but -12 Outs Above Average. His sample of work in right is a pretty small sample and tough to draw conclusions from, though he has 75th percentile arm strength and right field is smaller at PNC Park, so perhaps it’s a good move for him.
The Bucs will still have to figure out what to do at first base until Horwitz is back. Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review recently took a look at some of the options, mentioning Jared Triolo, Darick Hall, Matt Gorski, Malcom Nuñez and Suwinski as possibilities.
Triolo just won a Gold Glove for the utility position in the National League last year, spending time at all four infield positions and right field. The larger question would be his bat, since he has a line of .242/.325/.341 in his big league career so far. Hall isn’t on the roster and has minimal big league experience but a big .253/.342/.458 line in his Triple-A career. Gorski isn’t on the roster either and hasn’t made it to the show yet but he had a nice line of .257/.319/.522 in Triple-A last year. Nuñez also has no major league experience and isn’t on the roster. He’s also coming off a poor .250/.310/.365 showing in Triple-A last year.
Suwinski has only played the outfield in his career but there’s potential upside with his bat. Over 2022 and 2023, he hit 45 homers for the Bucs and drew walks at a 12.8% clip. His 31.6% strikeout rate was a problem but the power and on-base abilities made him a productive hitter. Unfortunately, he had a dismal 2024, slashing just .182/.264/.324 and struggling in the minors as well. The first base opening provides a path for him to earn back some playing time but his bat will obviously have to rebound for that to be a realistic possibility. Per Gorman, the Bucs haven’t approached him about playing first but Shelton isn’t opposed to the idea, while Suwinski is open to the switch in order to improve his versatility.
Does he move spots every year? If there is any pirates fans who know
Not at all. Was the center fielder for a number of years then moved to left for a couple.
The Pirates’ off season has been a train wreck, an abject failure They had ample opportunity to sign any number of decent players for an outfielder or 1st baseman but instead did nothing, unless bringing in a guy with a wrist problem to play 1st was the big transaction
It’s absolutely insane that they are spending even less than last year. They were slowly creeping up these last few years, I think last year they were around 86 mill. and this year they’re like 69 (nice). At least previous years they could argue, albeit poorly, that they were rebuilding. Well now is the time to spend and they’re not doing it.
Pirate fans just have to accept the fact that Nutting cares more about profit than a winning team
Well, Reynolds was originally the center fielder and after a year there graded out poor defensively. So he was moved to left, and while he graded poorly there as well, he did improve his arm. So now he’s poor defensively but has a good arm. PNC Park has a small right field and right fielders need a good arm to keep the opponent from going from first to third on a single. Let me know if you need more reasons.
Joes-6 thanks,makes sense
joes-6;
Reynolds has a terrible arm.
He throws the ball high in the air because it isn’t strong to
get the ball to the destination if he throws it on a line. Furthermore, I saw him throwing to 3B numerous times from deep LF and not only did the ball hang up as the 3B
was waiting for it come down, but it seems every single
time the 3B had to go 10-15 feet off the bag to catch it
because his throws are inaccurate.
Putting a weak-armed, inaccurate-throwing OF in RF fits perfectly with the way this Pirates FO has handled the ML roster.
Samuel directly from the article:
Metrics are divided on his work in left, as he has four Defensive Runs Saved but -12 Outs Above Average. His sample of work in right is a pretty small sample and tough to draw conclusions from, though he has 75th percentile arm strength and right field is smaller at PNC Park, so perhaps it’s a good move for him.
75 percentile isn’t a cannon, but at least it’s not less than 60
That’s simply not true
Watching him game in and game out, you can’t call his arm “terrible” based on a couple observations
He’s average.
I’m more concerned at the paths he takes to some fly balls
As for the Pirates front office methodologies, yeah, I said as much previously. There is no sense here
He was second in the league with 11 outfield assists.
His arm can’t be as bad as suggested
He was a gold glove finalist in 2021 as a CF. But ok
Actually he was the primary LF for 2 years (including the shortened year), then CF for 2, and now LF the last 2.
I thought he didn’t need to be moved off center but the pirates are the pirates
A great many apologists like to talk about how weak of an outfielder he is. It’s baloney. He’s not a Gold Glover and has an average arm. He sometimes takes poor tracks to balls hit into gaps and hangs back on short flies he should be going for, but you can stuff the analytics, as is usually the case
Watch him game in and game out and you see he’s an average outfielder. No less. It’s fine they’re moving him to right. But prior to this, the talk of making him a 1st baseman was/is typical Pirates: take from a relative strength and create two weak spots
It’s just a franchise run by a profit-obsessed owner and a GM who is clueless as to how he can work with such guardrails. He’s failed at drafting/attaining young players, failed even worse in player development and just avoided signing competent players altogether
Truly, what’s going on here makes no sense
Not really but yeah. He is a passible LF, a bad CF. Basically good enough in a pinch.
He started as a LF, moved to center mostly because there wasn’t much else to put there and then moved back to left now to right.
PNC Park LF is like CF. He’s a fine corner OF
“Permanent” “for now”
The oxymoron is hilarious lol
Pirates are just being the Pirates.
That could’ve helped out Rafael Devers and Marcus Stroman. “I’m a thirdbaseman/starter permanently for now.”
Pads Fans- i thought that was funny too.
I read that as “permanent for 2025” and “for now” in this point of his career.
Locked in through 2030 with no opt out and a partial no trade clause. That’s a long time in baseball years. So “…more of a permanent” transition “for now” playing RF fits to me.
I think it’s a foregone conclusion that it doesn’t matter where anyone plays on the Pirates, they’ll be uncompetitive yet again and they’re well on their way to wasting their control years on Skenes.
The one thing I didn’t get from the article is who’s playing shortstop if O’Neill Cruz is playing center?
Looks like IKF and Peguero will battle it out there for this season, at least
Suwinski at first is dumb. He’s a better outfielder than Reynolds and Pham and his bat went kaplooey… no version of his profile that would make him the 1b
Suwinski is not an MLB player, at any position.
He’s Polish and plays in western PA so he starts.
Ugh.
I’m so disappointed in the Pirates this offseason. It’s hard to understand. Is it because they signed Chapman for 10mil last year and felt like they didn’t get enough out of him? Like, why is their payroll *lower* this year? It’s so frustrating. There are players out there and they’re not even big money players. This just gets stupider every year.
They need to give answers and transparency as to what they wanted to do, and why they made these moves, or lack of, but it will never happen.
Cherington can’t make bold moves and Nutting, who I apologize for more than I should, needs to realize having the best pitcher in the world means you have to spend money and not operate like Dollar Tree.
if the franchise was publicly owned, we could see the books but we won’t because it’s privately owned
That said, since the people of this state paid for the construction of PNC Park, I believe we deserve to know why they refuse to put a competitive team on the field
Well, you wouldn’t see funding from MLB’s various revenue streams, which is most important. It’s an owners’ thing. La cosa nostra of sports. The books are closed
There is a blog full of Kool-Aid drinking Nutting apologist idiots called FOB&D, They are taking about the likes of Peguero and or Triolo being solid contributors. It’s embarrassing what some fans settle for.
Why blame the fans?
Been a fan of this team since 1966
Seen it all, good bad and disappointing
We don’t settle, but we also don’t control who this cheap ownership signs or puts in the lineup
Triolo is a great defensive player and if he’s in between his super lucky season and unlucky season, he’s a fine bench piece/starter for a bit.
I feel like it really doesn’t matter, such a small difference. More concerned about how the team hits. I don’t think Pham should play every day unless he does well enough. I’d prefer he and Suwinski in a platoon unless one of them stinks out the joint.
And they still have to figure out Henry Davis. Easy to say the Pirates ruined him by not having a plan where to play him, but his bat should play well enough regardless and it hasn’t been close.. I really had high hopes for him, seemed to have great offensive potential and expected something like 25 doubles, 25 homers, .260 and a near .800 OPS but that seems like a fairy tale now. Even if he was Suwinski of the past with a better BA, wouldn’t care where he’d play because that’s a bat that deserves to be starting.
Outfield: Kind of in line with my thoughts on this. Pham is a 4th Outfielder and Insurance Policy (and he’s ok for that). I think their hope is that Suwinski will end up as their Leftfielder against RH pitching.
Catcher: Bart is obviously the starter. Barring injuries, I’d have Jason Delay as the backup to start the season (that would likely be temporary). Let Davis and Rodriguez both start the season at AAA. Davis has hit too well at every level except the majors to give up too quickly on him. Rodriguez shouldn’t be in the majors yet.
Pitching. Excluding Skenes, it’s not really a strength. I think the Reds staff is actually better (but their lineup is not). When you have Falter and Oviedo penciled in as #4 and #5 starters, it’s hard to see pitching as a strength. Have to hope for Chandler and Harrington (very underrated), And, they barely have AAA experience. I would look to add here.
I have to give you guys credit for still having faith in both Suwinski and Davis. Look, I want the kids to succeed. I do believe player development staff failed both. But to me, a new hitting coach can’t perform miracles. Suwinski is a decent/good outfielder, but bringing Ted Williams back from the dead to coach him couldn’t make him a better hitter. I guess it depends on what Pirates staff would consider to be promising. As for Davis, where do you play him? He’s shown little with the glove and less with the bat
Agree with your pitching observation. If only Skenes could pitch every three games. I think Jones will be fine and Chandler or Oviedo are question marks. As for Keller, every season he tends to run into a couple of streaks where he can’t keep his heater off of Main Street and loses feel on his spin pitches.
Maybe things will work out this season
MrMuyBueno;
A few things….
Clearly the owner is the problem concerning the payroll. It should be higher, but Pittsburgh will remain a small market MLB team. They’re not going to have a $130m yearly payroll in the near future.
However, the Tampa Bay Rays fielded a team in 2024 with a payroll 6.7% higher than the Pirates. Say what you will, but they had decent pitching, defenders that could play their positions, some very good hitters, and mostly smart baserunners. The Rays could manufacture runs.
On the other hand the Pirates were playing guys out of position that weren’t great defenders to begin with, and their fundamentals were awful. The overall hitting was so-so. The baserunning was poor. The pitching was the bright spot, yet the team finished 20th in MLB in team ERA playing half their games in a pitchers park. The team seldom manu-
factured runs.
The bad roster and guys playing out of position is a hallmark of a poor MLB front office. Players not being able to execute strong fundamentals starts with those coaching them in the minors, as well as the ML manager not making it clear that playing time depends on playing baseball correctly.
–
What I’m pointing out is this…..
Yes, the owner sucks. But small market franchises can still put a team put on the field that hustles day-in and day-out and plays strong fundamental baseball. For the last 3 years I’ve read unhappy / knowledgeable Pirate fans on here stating that the players are jacking around, messing up plays, and literally laughing about it. They take no responsibility, and the manager doesn’t hold them accountable.
In short, the Pirates have an organization-wide problem as well as one of the worst owners in professional team sports. They should be much better than they are.
Exactly.
My biggest problem with Shelton is that he wishes to be Uncle Sheltie here. Young guys jogging out grounders and pop flies. Admiring long flies that drop before the wall. Playing defensive positions with a handful of seeds while the ball is in play. Sliding into a base with a cell phone popping out of a pocket. Just being aloof and ok with continually losing
That’s the Shelton-led Pirates.
And that’s discounting the myriad defensive, baserunning and hitting problems you see on a continual basis
The owner is the Mister Potter of our Bedford Falls, no doubt. He doesn’t live here, feels no responsibility to the fan base, grants few interviews and is not a fixture at games. He’s beyond horrible.
And the GM seemingly can’t conduct business with the guard rails in place
Your comparisons are on point, of course. The point is, the owner places profits far above the needs of building a competitive team
Let me ask, if you managed to wind up with the greatest pitcher in the game, and he’s playing basically for free, wouldn’t you go out and spend like crazy and try to improve the team??? There are plenty of players they could have got, far better than Tommy Pham at 37, but nope, they’re going cheap. They’re going to waste all those years of control on Skenes because there’s a cheap billionaire who doesn’t truly understand money pulling the levers.
Hitters don’t want to play in PNC park. It’s terrible for offense, especially for RHHs.
Pirates do well signing FA pitchers they just have good starting pitching already and it wasn’t best relief market this offseason
Maybe it’s the players and not the park.
exactly
It’s not like hitters from opposing teams can’t hit in PNC Park.
If they couldn’t, the Bucs could have won more games there last year.
I am hoping that the firing of Andy Haines makes a difference
But Guapo is only right if all things are equal
That is, if a hitter has the same offer from a team that doesn’t play in PNC Park, he might opt elsewhere. But that’s not the major problem here
Players don’t want to play for a cheapskate owner who refuses to spend to build a competitive team.
Money talks
But I have to laugh when people throw a name like Rizzo out there. Unless he is desperate for money, why would he play here? It’s Baseball Siberia. Sign on and watch as the team loses 90+ games?
It’s a pathetic franchise and awful owner. It has much more to do with individual salary offers first, and a prospective veteran free agent’s view of how the team is built, a close second
There’s a reason a Pham or Frazier sign here, and it has nothing to do with hitting or the team being able to compete. It’s just padding the bank account and hopefully getting traded to a contender come deadline time
There’s going to be a lot of hits and extra bases taken on balls to left field if Pham is really out there everyday it’s spacious out there.
The Bucs will start a cardboard cut out of Dave Parker in left. The $22.72 they paid for it fits their budget (barely).
It’s their mission from god.
Maybe BC has something up his sleeve, but now who is going in left? Pham? Geez.
Just trade for trout and buy stock in duct tape to hold his body together. Problem solved 🙂
What BC has up his sleeve is finding a new way to make the gullible buy into his belief that they will be competitive this year
After all, there’s Pierogi races this in their minds should sell tickets
It’s a sink-or-swim lineup.
The payroll limitations have existed for decades. And free agents won’t even come to play unless they can expect the July exit trade to a contender. So be it.
But GMBC and staff are not poor judges of talent and in year’s past, a few pieces have fallen into place and a nice hot streak to start the season kept them hanging around into July. Holderman and Bednar combined for 12 blown saves last year, barring those meltdowns, August and September might have been different. Falter did his job (ate innings on the left side). Kiner-Falefa showed up ready to play. N Gonzalez showed flashes, bad luck with his injury. These guys aren’t all bums, Triolo took home an award, no one predicted that. Someone is going to hit the ground running in Florida with TB/MIA out of the gate, that helps. A classic baseball trade would be nice: an arm and a guy for a lesser arm and a bigger guy plus a lottery ticket. But maybe that doesn’t happen if they don’t win games. The worst thing any fan can do is mope in February, this is the time when you’re looking for green shoots. I’ll never apologize for Nutting being undercapitalized but these guys come to play hard. Do you think Hayes has a bad back in his twenties from lying on the couch funny? It’s probably both Shelton and Cherington’s last run until another re-build so bring your stick and some leather and let’s raise it!
I like a lot of your points here and think you are a bit too optimistic in others. I will spare you from regurgitating my thoughts on Shelton, Cherington and Nutting as they’re all over this thread
Your comment about blown saves and how things might have been different last season is likely accurate-especially if you add in Chapman’s blown leads late in games-but it’s only because the NL was so replete with average teams last season and literally, almost every team contended for a berth. Nothing more
Yes, the late inning relief was bad. But hitting was anemic, too They’ve done nothing to remedy that
You make note of Hayes and his back. While I can sympathize with his troubles, his play when he’s healthy has been glove-only. As a fan going back to late 60’s, there are few bigger busts I have seen come through here.
But then again, just which position players have come through the Pirates system as exceptional MLB talents? Hayes. Suwinski. Davis. Triolo. Peguero. Gonzales. And the revolving door of outfielders who came and were sent back down. Would any start for another MLB team?
Lastly, your point about February is well taken
But many of us have been around forever. After such train wreck of an off season, it’s hard to be optimistic.
Fan since ’87 here. Shelton made a point last year that players develop at different rates (I want to say he was referring to Bart).
You’re right, it’s just optimism. Because if you’re a Pirates fan and you follow this franchise year-round, what does it say about you? You’re addicted to failure? You love having a heartless owner to punch on and scapegoat? If you met a player on the street, would you thank him, sympathize with him? Or ask him, why didn’t you just go to the KBO? I think fans have lost sight of how hard this game is and how different the superstars’ performance ranges from era to era. That Brian Giles/Juan Soto comp floating around is nuts. O’Neil Cruz we got for Octavio Dotel! I think every franchise has holes, none of them pump out All-Stars on the regular. I always think about Rajai Davis for Matt Morris. A true low. But Rajai played another, what 15+ years up the street? We all know what a AAAA player looks like, we’ve seen them over and over again. One difference now is the league is younger and the pitching is better, much better. I distinctly remember watching their implosion last summer, thinking, well, at least this is entertaining and they are in almost every game. That’s baseball. Expect a regression from the starters, another year’s worth of ABs and BP should yield some more pop. It seems strange to expect every 1st round pick to jump in and have a 30/30 season. My reply is meandering, I don’t write these ever. We should have never let Carlos Santana walk!
On the contrary, I enjoyed the stream of consciousness. In basis, I agree with the idea of not being far away. Most of us here did, which explains our disappointment with an off-season of doing nothing to build around the core. Nothing. And to most of us, the inaction defies logic. Is it being extremely frugal or do they wear rose colored glasses about what they have here?
I can’t speak for everyone here but to old timers like TheMan3, Mendoza and I, we grew up with the Pirates since the Forbes Field era. Being a fan is ingrained. We were here for the good periods and enjoyed it so much we’d like to see a winning team again. Not championship per se, just a team that hustles and is competitive.
I’m a bit more jaded as I remember players living here, of having to take jobs after retirement. I love the game. I root for the players in the Pittsburgh uniforms. But I have no admiration or fandom beyond that. That’s me
That’s-I moved to the Philadelphia area in 1978 for a job and stayed there 38 1/2 years.I have been retired and stayed here since June 30,2016.
The Pirates were a fine team when I left,and Pittsburgh was known as The City of Champions.
I am not nearly as negative as some posters here,but in some respects,much more practical.
Baseball has become a sport for the richest owners as there is no salary cap.
But the Pirates could be cyclically competitive as many of the other ML small market teams are.
I learned two sayings from a New Englander once I moved here.One was- Once burned,twice shy.
The other- Fool me once,shame on you.Fool me twice,shame on me.
To many of us,Nutting and the Pirates are a broken record.
And it seems that the whole country now sees them that way also.
Neither Cook or Yorke were mentioned in this article.
“It sounds like. . .”? I guess Shelton has a communication problem with one of the few good position players on the team.
Cherrington should give Cleveland a call. Vogt wouldn’t have any problems talking to BRey. The Guards have pieces the Pirates can use.
I doubt CLE would want to take on his contract. Who would you propose they send to PIT, just out of curiosity?
You know, it’s such a stupid proposition that it should not surprise anyone if they’d do it
I mean, really
Not that I’m the biggest Reynolds fan but he’s the only consistent hitter this anemic lineup has
Why in the world would you trade him?
But it’s the Pirates. They gave away Ortiz. They apparently shopped Keller and Jones.
Such a pathetic franchise
How about a change of scenery swap of former top picks?
Henry Davis for Spencer Torkelson
Tork could platoon with Horowitz when he returns.
Davis could back up Jake Rogers or be a right handed platoon bat in right field.
Tomorrow. I’d do it tomorrow
Maybe you’d take Hayes, too?
That would be a great deal
Mike-I just read an article on Davis that he tried to pull every pitch last year with no hits to right field.Hitting instructor or lack thereof failed him.
Cherington has failed him.
See how he hits in ST while playing RF.Send him to AAA to play there.Bring him up in a month.
Move Reynolds back to LF and put Henry in RF.
His arm is precious.
They have Bart and Endy to catch and Delay if necessary.Don’t mess with Henry’s head anymore.He hustles and will run out every grounder.
Too many posters here think that he is already a failure.
Give him a reasonable and consistent chance and you will find a good ML hitter and an ok RF.
Agree with all of this but add in remarkably bad recognition of the strike zone while at bat
Still, why not?
But why not some reps at 1st, too?
I think that what these young players need is consistency.Remember that Cherington is famous for telling players oh you can play there just try.
That messes with young unestablished players minds.
Even Reynolds seems surprised at his move to right field.
Communication is not the best on the Pirates.
I would rather have Bart be the right handed hitting complement to Horwitz.If he is starting to be a good hitter give him a break from catching for forty games to keep his bat in the lineup.
Also remember that Davis would have the best arm in right field for the Pirates since Dave Parker.
And yes,just because one can hit in AAA does not mean that he will be a good ML hitter.
I just want to maximize the chance.
Even the great hitters did not always have great years in their first few years.They had to learn how to hit too.
Nuttings TV revenues are down; so he’s spending even less.