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Bryan Reynolds

Details On Bryan Reynolds’ Limited No-Trade Protection

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The Pirates appear to be open for business regarding trade talks for most of their roster (sans Paul Skenes) this summer. In a trade market without many quality bats available, that could make two-time All-Star Bryan Reynolds a particularly intriguing commodity for some teams. One potential wrinkle in Reynolds’s availability is his partial no-trade protection, which allows him to block trades to a list of six teams. A report from Noah Hiles from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette yesterday revealed those teams are the Yankees, Mets, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Giants, and Padres.

All six of those teams are in playoff contention and stand out as likely to not only buy this season, but do so fairly aggressively. It’s not unheard of for a player to waive their no-trade clause, and some players with limited no-trade protection even specifically prioritize putting likely contenders on their no-trade lists to maximize the amount of leverage they have in determining their destination should their team decide to trade them. With that being said, the news of Reynolds’ no-trade list certainly makes a deal sending him to any of those six clubs far less likely.

Many of the clubs Reynolds can block a trade to appear to be imperfect fits on paper. The Dodgers, Yankees, and Mets all have deep corner outfield mixes and seem very unlikely to prioritize adding a bat like Reynolds when they have larger needs elsewhere. The Giants likely made their big splash of trade season already when they acquired Rafael Devers from the Red Sox, although Mike Yastrzemski is in the final year of his contract and would be unlikely to stop San Francisco from adding an impact bat. Addison Barger’s breakout and George Springer’s resurgence have more or less locked down the right field and DH spots for the Blue Jays, and while there’s an opening in left field for the moment that figures to change as soon as Anthony Santander returns from the injured list.

Perhaps the clearest fit for Reynolds on his no-trade list is the Padres, who have long appeared to be a bat short in the lineup as they’ve cycled through options like Jason Heyward, Trenton Brooks, and Oscar Mercado with little success this year. There’s a clear opening in left field for Reynolds to theoretically step into, as well. With that being said, San Diego has operated under some extremely tight financial constraints in recent years that would make it difficult to see them deal a player like Reynolds, who is due more than $77MM after this season on his extension with the Pirates. It should also be noted that, despite Reynolds’s long track record of success in the majors, he’s in the midst of the worst full season of his career as he’s slashed just .232/.298/.384 with a wRC+ of 87 this season.

That combination of a hefty contract, a tough 2025 campaign so far, and now a list of six contenders who likely will not be in the market for Reynolds’s services could mean the Pirates won’t get as much interest in their star outfielder as they may have hoped. Even if that proves to be the case, however, Reynolds is sure to get at least some interest around the league. The Royals have already been connected to Reynolds just this past week, and there will surely be more outfield-needy teams who at least give the Pirates a call to see if there’s a match. Speculatively speaking, the Phillies and Cardinals stand out as clubs that could theoretically stand to make a substantial upgrade to their outfield who might have the resources necessary to take on Reynolds’s contract.

Royals Interested In Bryan Reynolds

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The Royals have been looking for outfield upgrades for years and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that they have interest in Bryan Reynolds of the Pirates, though Rosenthal adds that talks haven’t yet gained momentum and Kansas City is also interested in other hitters.

Reynolds, 30, has been one of the faces of the Pirates for years. As the club has struggled to win, he has been one of their few consistently strong performers. Just over two years ago, they signed him to a seven-year, $100MM extension, the largest guarantee the franchise has ever given out.

Despite his status with the club, it appears he is at least somewhat available. The Pirates are 38-50 and nine games out of a playoff spot, putting them clearly in seller position. Recent reporting indicated that they will have very few off-limits players in trade talks this month, with Paul Skenes and Andrew McCutchen reportedly the only players who will be truly off the table.

Willingness to discuss a trade doesn’t mean it will actually happen but picking up the phone suggests a non-zero chance. Reynolds is now into his 30s and his performance has dipped a bit this year. He has a line of .237/.301/.393 on the season, which translates to a wRC+ of 90. He came into this year with a career line of .276/.352/.470 line and a 121 wRC+. He’s never been an especially strong defender, so he needs to hit to provide value.

It’s possible the baseball gods are responsible for the dip. Reynolds came into this year with a career .328 batting average on balls in play but he has just a .295 BABIP this season. That’s despite the fact that his batted-ball metrics have actually improved. His 49.1% hard hit rate, 91.8 mile-per-hour exit velocity and 11.5% barrel rate are all career highs.

It makes for a tricky calculus for the Pirates. As mentioned, Reynolds is an esteemed member of the franchise and has been signed to the largest contract in franchise history. Trading that deal barely two years after it was signed would surely be a bad public relations move at a time when the fan base is already unhappy. From a pure baseball perspective, it would also be tricky. Moving Reynolds now could be a bit of a sell-low move since his surface-level stats are down but the numbers under the hood look fine.

On the other hand, the Pirates always have a tight budget and the Reynolds deal still has five years and $76MM remaining after this year, including the buyout on a 2031 club option. There will be about $4MM left of this year’s $12MM salary at the end of July, meaning there would be about $80MM in total left to be paid out at the deadline. With a lack of sellers this year, perhaps the Bucs are dreaming about moving on from a big chunk of change owed to an aging player while they have the chance, perhaps getting something useful back in return.

But of course, that would require some club to have faith in Reynolds bouncing back from this year’s swoon. It’s possible clubs have some skepticism around that. If Reynolds were declared a free agent today, he probably wouldn’t get an $80MM deal, which arguably makes the deal underwater. The Pirates could eat some money in the deal to improve the return but that could exacerbate the P.R. issue. Not only would they be trading away the largest deal in franchise history after a short amount of time, but they would be paying Reynolds to play elsewhere.

For the Royals, as mentioned, their outfield has been an ongoing problem. Kyle Isbel and Drew Waters lead the team in plate appearances from the outfield spots this year but each has a wRC+ of 66. A two-year deal for Hunter Renfroe was a dud and he has been released. Jac Caglianone is getting his first taste of major league playing time but hasn’t got into a groove yet. The MJ Melendez experiment went on for years before he got sent to the minors.

That’s been a big part of the club’s top-heavy offense. Last year, they were able to succeed thanks to an outstanding season from Bobby Witt Jr., along with some decent contributions from Salvador Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino, but the lineup was otherwise lackluster. This year, Witt is still quite good but not quite at last year’s pace. Perez has fallen off more significantly. A big surge from Maikel Garcia has compensated for those dips somewhat, but it’s still a lineup with a number of holes.

The club has a collective .243/.298/.364 line and 81 wRC+, production that is worse than every big league club apart from the White Sox and Rockies. They have still managed to hang in contention thanks to their pitching but are 5.5 games out of a playoff spot at the moment. Providing a jolt to the lineup would surely improve their chances of making gains in the race.

Though the Royals spend a bit more money than the Pirates, they’re not exactly top dogs in that department. Witt’s extension is the only deal in their franchise history larger than the $100MM that the Pirates gave to Reynolds. Taking on $80MM as part of a midseason deal would be no small matter.

Perhaps they view that as an opportunity that is normally not available to them. As Rosenthal points out, they were connected to Anthony Santander this winter, but he ultimately signed with the Blue Jays. That was technically a five-year, $92.5MM deal but it’s actually worth about $70MM when factoring in deferrals. The Royals also had reported interest in Jurickson Profar, who signed with Atlanta on a three-year, $42MM deal. Perhaps it’s a coincidence, but those two and Reynolds are all switch-hitters.

After struggling to find free agents willing to take their money, perhaps they view this as a chance to get around that problem. Reynolds doesn’t have a full no-trade clause but does have the ability to block trades to six teams. It’s unknown if the Royals are one of the six on his list. But as mentioned, the $80MM has to be a factor. That’s more than what Profar and Santander got, when considering the deferrals. If the Royals didn’t have the money to finish those kinds of deals in the winter, do they have it now?

Turning back to Pittsburgh, it’s not as though they are so overflowing with bats that they can flippantly discard them. The main reason they are in seller position this year is because of their tepid offense, as their pitching is actually quite good. That largely seems to be the case going forward as well, since they have an enviable collection of young arms but a lack of impact bats. They don’t have a qualified hitter with a wRC+ above 112 this year. 38-year-old McCutchen is the only one with a wRC+ higher than 102. Reynolds is scuffling a bit this year but he’s still one of the better bats in the lineup and trading him would deal a huge blow to their future offense.

It’s a very interesting fit in many ways. The Royals have clearly tried to get a player like Reynolds for years, so it’s understandable they would have interest. But would they be able to make it work financially? The Pirates naturally have to consider ways to make the most of this lost season. But the front office in Pittsburgh would have to also consider the P.R. hit and the downgrade to next year’s offense. They surely want to contend in 2026 and their pitching makes that possible, but the lineup is already bad and would get worse without Reynolds in it.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

Pirates Reportedly Have Very Few Untouchable Players At Trade Deadline

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The Pirates will be deadline sellers yet again, which should be clear to anyone who takes a glance at their 32-50 record and -68 run differential. There’d been hope earlier in the year among some fanbases that Pittsburgh would even weigh the merits of trading ace Paul Skenes for what would perhaps have to be the richest trade return in history, but GM Ben Cherington has publicly quashed speculation on that front. Outside of Skenes, however, it seems the Bucs will be broadly open for business. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and Jon Heyman of the New York Post have both reported within the past 18 hours that Skenes and franchise icon Andrew McCutchen — who has repeatedly stated since his return to Pittsburgh a few years ago that he has no desire to play elsewhere — are the only two big leaguers who are seen as off the table.

That seemingly puts not only the expected trade candidates in play (e.g. Andrew Heaney, David Bednar, Dennis Santana, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, etc.), but also more controllable names like center fielder Oneil Cruz and longtime stars like outfielder Bryan Reynolds and right-hander Mitch Keller, both of whom signed an extension within the past two years. The Bucs surely aren’t going to move top prospect Bubba Chandler, but the majority of their major league roster could at least be discussed.

Keller stands as one of the most interesting names to watch, not just on the Pirates, but around the league as a whole. The former second-rounder is in the second season of a five-year, $77MM contract and being paid $15MM this year. He’s owed $16.5MM in 2026, $18MM in 2027 and $20MM in 2028. That’s a steep cost for the low-payroll Pirates but affordable for many clubs, particularly given the increasing prices of free-agent pitching on the open market.

The 29-year-old Keller isn’t an ace but was thought to have No. 2-3 starter upside in his days as a top prospect. He’s settled in a step below that, regularly giving the Bucs plenty of innings and an ERA in the low 4.00s with quality rate stats. The 2025 season is no exception. Keller is sitting on a 4.02 ERA in 94 innings. He’s averaged just under six frames per start this season. His 18.5% strikeout rate is a career-low, but Keller’s 6.1% walk rate is excellent and his 45.5% ground-ball rate is strong. Keller’s velocity is down a touch, sitting 93.9 mph in 2025 after averaging 94.4 mph in 2024 and 95.2 mph in 2023, but he’s picking up steam as the season goes along. He sat 93.5 mph in March/April but has averaged 94.1 mph since the calendar flipped to May, for instance.

The current version of Keller would draw plenty of interest even if he weren’t to make any gains with a new club, though teams around the league could well hope that Keller is the latest premier starter to thrive upon being traded away from the Pirates. Gerrit Cole, Tyler Glasnow and Joe Musgrove have all gone on to enjoy top-of-the-rotation success upon being traded by Pittsburgh. Keller, a former top prospect with a 6’3″, 212-pound frame who’s shown flashes of greater bat-missing potential — he struck out 25.5% of his opponents in 2023 — could prove tantalizing, particularly in a market that’s thin on pitching.

Rosenthal suggests that with Pirates not enjoying the attendance increase they likely expected at the time Keller was extended — the Bucs were hopeful of emerging from their rebuild at that point, but injuries and downturns from young players have scuttled that thought — the right-hander and his increasing salary could be more likely to move. Heyman suggests that a Keller trade isn’t as likely due to what’ll surely be a steep asking price.

Given the dearth of starters on the trade market and the deep stock of young arms the Pirates have cultivated, it does seem there’s a real chance to cash in on Keller. Skenes is already cemented as the Pirates’ ace. Jared Jones will miss this season but hopefully return in the first half of 2026. Chandler will debut this summer, and the list of rotation candidates beyond that trio include Braxton Ashcraft, Mike Burrows, Thomas Harrington, Hunter Barco, Bailey Falter (if he’s not traded) and the currently injured Johan Oviedo. Additional arms could join that contingent within the next five weeks, as the Pirates will be adding various new prospects and/or young big leaguers via a series of trades.

A trade of Reynolds would be more difficult to engineer. The 30-year-old is signed through 2030 but is currently scuffling through his least-productive season since the shortened 2020 campaign. In 330 plate appearances, Reynolds carries a tepid .233/.303/.372 batting line — 14% worse than average production, by measure of wRC+. That’s not what a team would want from any player, of course, but it’s magnified by his seven-year, $100MM contract extension, which stands as the largest deal in franchise history.

Reynolds, however, is still hitting the ball on the screws; in fact, he’s hitting the ball harder than ever before. This year’s 91.5 mph average exit velocity and 48.1% hard-hit rate are career-highs. His 10.7% barrel rate is just barely shy of his career-best 11.1% in 2023 — a season in which he produced a much more robust .263/.330/.460 output and slugged 24 homers. Reynolds is hitting just .600 on line-drives this year, and while “just .600” sounds like a ridiculous statement, the league-average on liners is .705 and his career mark entering the year was .697.

It’s not all bad luck driving his downturn at the plate. Reynolds’ 25.8% strikeout rate is a career-high in a 162-game season, although even that’s a bit misleading. The switch-hitter’s 11.6% swinging-strike rate and 25.1% chase rate on pitches off the plate both stand as the second-best marks of his career. His 72.6 mph bat speed, per Statcast, is actually his highest mark since that stat began being tracked in 2023. Reynolds isn’t punching out more because he’s expanding the zone or because he’s no longer capable of catching up to velocity; he’s simply swinging less, particularly within the strike zone, which seems more correctable than a decline in bat speed or erosion of plate discipline.

Reynolds is being paid $12MM this season and has five years and $76MM left on his contract thereafter. He hit decently in May before falling back into a slump, but Reynolds has shown some signs of life with eight hits (three doubles) over his past four games. If he can keep building up momentum, it’s possible a well-timed hot streak and this year’s gaudy batted-ball metrics will generate some interest. Still, his contract contains a limited six-team no-trade clause, and while we saw Rafael Devers shipped out just a few weeks ago, it’s nonetheless exceedingly rare to see a player traded when he has this much time left on a guaranteed contract.

Cruz, 26, is the other name who is notable by his absence from Pittsburgh’s list of purportedly untouchable players. He long rated as one of the organization’s top prospects and one of the top prospects in the entire sport. He posted monster numbers in April and hit decently in May before falling into an awful slump this month. Cruz carried a .230/.347/.481 batting line into June but has cratered with a .148/.247/.210 line this month. He’s now hitting .205/.317/.398 on the season.

It’s an unexciting line, but Cruz has some of the loudest tools in the game. He’s a towering 6’7″, 240 pounds and offers explosive athleticism. Cruz is 26-for-29 in stolen base attempts this season and has swatted 13 home runs. He’s averaging a ridiculous 96 mph off the bat with a 22% barrel rate and a 56.7% hard-hit rate. Only Aaron Judge has a higher barrel rate. Only Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Schwarber and James Wood have better hard-hit rates. No one in MLB has a higher average exit velocity or higher bat speed.

There are major hit tool concerns, evidenced by this year’s 33% strikeout rate and Cruz’s career 31.9% mark. However, Cruz is walking at a stout 13.5% clip as well and has actually reduced his chase rate and swinging-strike rate over last year’s levels. Like Reynolds, he’s swinging far less often this season; Cruz swung at 46.2% of the pitches he saw last year (and 61.3% of the strikes he saw) compared to just 40.7% in 2025 (and 55.9% of the strikes he’s seen). The team’s overall swing rate on pitches within the zone from 2024 to 2025 is virtually unchanged, but for whatever reason, Cruz and Reynolds have taken up much more passive approaches — ostensibly to their detriment.

Cruz has gone from a poor-fielding shortstop to a passable center field defender while learning his new position on the fly at the big league level. His plus-plus speed and elite arm strength — he not-so-shockingly leads all big leaguers in arm strength as well, per Statcast — lend themselves well to center field. It wouldn’t be at all surprising if he emerged as a plus defender there as he gains experience. Cruz was benched earlier this week for failing to run out a grounder that someone with his speed should easily have been able to beat, resulting in an inning-ending double play, but he said after the game that he’d lost track of the number of outs. Cruz took fault for the situation and said he supported manager Don Kelly’s decision to lift him from the game (link via the Associated Press).

Even if Cruz’s recent struggles persist, the asking price in a trade would presumably be enormous. Players with this type of tool set simply don’t come around often. Add in that he’s controllable via arbitration for three years after the current season, and Pittsburgh would need a substantial return to consider parting ways with him. The upside on Cruz is so great that it’s hard to see the Pirates actually trading him, but he’ll be a fascinating long-shot target for teams seeking center field help.

There are plenty of other trade candidates to consider. Lefty relievers Caleb Ferguson and veteran infielder/outfielder Adam Frazier are on a cheap one-year deals and could be moved. The Bucs would likely love to shed the four years and $36MM owed to third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes beyond the current season. He’s still an elite defender, but chronic back problems that developed after he signed his $70MM extension have severely sapped his production at the plate.

Latest On Pirates’ Deadline Plans

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The Pirates are 22-37 to this point in the season, leaving them with the second-worst record in the National League ahead of only the lowly Rockies. They’re already 11.5 games back of a Wild Card spot and 14.5 games behind the Cubs in the race for the NL Central crown. It’s hard to imagine them turning things around quickly enough to avoid being sellers at this year’s trade deadline. That led to plenty of buzz on social media speculating about the possibility of Pittsburgh brass listening to offers on star right-hander Paul Skenes, but reporting has unequivocally dismissed that notion.

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale confirmed this morning that the Pirates are “flatly rebuking” interest from rival clubs in Skenes and fellow young star Oneil Cruz, but he did report that the front office will at least listen to offers on the rest of their roster. It’s a sensible stance for the club to take. After all, Skenes and Cruz are both exciting young players with superstar potential and plenty of team control remaining: Cruz is controlled for three seasons after this one, while Skenes is controlled for four. With the rest of the club’s most prized players either out for the season (Jared Jones) or still in the minor leagues (Bubba Chandler), listening on the rest of the roster throughout the summer could allow the Pirates to best position themselves to improve for 2026 and beyond.

It should be noted that just because the organization is willing to listen on a player does not mean a deal coming together should be expected. The Pirates have plenty of other assets that are both intriguing and under longer-term control that they would surely be hesitant to part with for anything less than an impressive return. Right-hander Mitch Keller and lefty Bailey Falter are both controlled through the end of the 2028 season (the same length of time as Cruz) and have emerged as affordable and reliable rotation pieces in recent years. That sort of talent is difficult to part with, even for a club as deep in exciting pitching talent as the Pirates.

Speculatively speaking, it’s not hard to imagine the Pirates only being willing to part with those pieces if they were able to receive a similarly-talented player with a comparable team control who better fits the club’s needs in return, as was the case when they swapped Luis Ortiz to the Guardians for Spencer Horwitz this past winter. Much more likely to be moved on the pitching side of things are shorter-term pieces like Andrew Heaney, Caleb Ferguson, and David Bednar. MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently discussed the Pirates’ pitching staff in a piece for Front Office subscribers that provides a more detailed look at the players Pittsburgh could consider moving.

On the hitting side of things, Nightengale specifically floats two names as possible trade chips: outfielder Bryan Reynolds and third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes. Both are under long-term team control after previously signing eight-year extensions with the team: Reynolds is in the third year of a deal that runs through 2030 with a club option for 2031, while Hayes is in the fourth year of a deal that runs through 2029 with a club option for 2030. Perhaps that would make them seem likely to be off-limits for a team that surely hopes to contend while Cruz and Skenes are still in town, but it’s not hard to see why the Pirates may be more willing to part with them.

Both are owed significant guaranteed money—no small factor for an organization with Pittsburgh’s payroll constraints—and neither has quite lived up to the expectations placed on them when their deals were signed. Hayes is an elite defender at the hot corner and has shown the ability to be a three-win player with even average offense in the past, but he’s been dogged by injuries throughout his career and is hitting just .229/.283/.285 (58 wRC+) over the past two years. Reynolds is already in his age-30 campaign, is a poor defender restricted to the outfield corners, and has hit just .264/.332/.442 (109 wRC+) over the past three seasons. He’s even been below average (87 wRC+) this year, and while his expected numbers remain strong it would be understandable for the Pirates to move on if they received a return they were satisfied with.

Even as the Pirates are likely willing to listen to offers on both players, however, there are plenty of obstacles to trading either one. Hayes will still be owed $36MM (including a $6MM buyout on the 2030 club option) after 2025, and while that’s hardly an exorbitant sum it’s difficult to justify taking on that expense and surrendering a meaningful return for a player who hasn’t been more than replacement level since 2023. Reynolds is a more productive player, but he’s owed more than $77MM on a contract that runs through his age-35 season and is already showing signs of decline. Unless the Pirates are interested merely in clearing salary off their books and a willingness to accept a relatively weak package in return, the team would surely be better off waiting for Hayes and Reynolds to improve—or at least for their contracts to become less onerous as more gets paid down—in order to trade them.

Even if Hayes and Reynolds appear unlikely to exchange hands this summer, that doesn’t mean the Pirates have no one to dangle on the hitting side of things. All parties surely want Andrew McCutchen to retire in Pittsburgh, but Isiah Kiner-Falefa is a pending free agent who has put together a solid enough season (108 wRC+) to attract plenty of interest. Tommy Pham and Adam Frazier are also pending free agents, but have struggled this year and may not garner much outside interest. One other intriguing option would be moving catcher Joey Bart, who has hit .256/.341/.406 (109 wRC+) in a Pirates uniform but could be moved if Pittsburgh is ready to pass the torch to Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez.

NL Central Notes: Gorman, Reynolds, Cubs

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The Cardinals placed Nolan Gorman on the 10-day injured list yesterday (retroactive to April 2), and called up infielder Thomas Saggese from Triple-A in the corresponding roster move.  Gorman is suffering from a right hamstring strain that he suffered while running the bases in last Tuesday’s game, though Gorman told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other reporters that the strain is “super-mild.”  While the injury prevents Gorman from fielding at the moment, he is still able to hit and catch, so he’ll be able to continue with baseball activities while on the IL.

Gorman has delivered four hits (including a homer and a double) in his first nine plate appearances of the season, as he enters what might be a pivot point in his young career.  The former top prospect has shown flashes of his potential over his first three MLB seasons, but his production trailed off badly in 2024, to the point that the Cards optioned Gorman to Triple-A last August.  The crowded nature of the Cards lineup also means that Gorman isn’t getting everyday playing time, and he’ll have to keep hitting in order to carve out more of a regular role.  Missing time to an injury won’t help these endeavors, but it seems like Gorman might just miss the minimum 10 days.

More from around the NL Central…

  • Bryan Reynolds has been limited to DH duty over the Pirates’ last four games, as the right fielder’s throwing ability has been hampered by right triceps soreness.  There isn’t any indication that Reynolds will need an IL stint since he’s still able to hit, though Reynolds has slashed only .194/.237/.306 in his first 38 PA of the season.  With Reynolds now in the designated hitter spot, regular DH Andrew McCutchen will be getting some more action in the outfield, after appearing in only 13 games as an outfielder over the previous two seasons.  McCutchen welcomed the return to the grass and praised Reynolds’ toughness, telling MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf that “it shows the character of him and what he brings to the team. A lot of people would say, ’Give me an IL stint and I’ll come back.’ He’s still capable and able to swing it….Unfortunately, he’s not 100 percent already in the season, but he’s going to do his job, and we’re going to do our best to support that and not make him feel like he has to rush back.”
  • Manager Craig Counsell provided the Chicago Sun-Times’ Maddie Lee and other reporters with updates on two players on the Cubs’ injured list.  Utilityman Vidal Brujan has been set back by some continued soreness in his right elbow, though Counsell said an MRI showed “nothing substantial.”  Right-hander Javier Assad had a two-inning outing in extended Spring Training yesterday, and should have two or three more similar outings before he starts a minor league rehab assignment.  Assad missed all of Spring Training due to a left oblique strain, so he’ll need a good deal of ramp-up time before he is ready to be activated from the 15-day IL.

Bryan Reynolds Expects To Be Pirates’ Right Fielder

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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.

Pirates Designate Josh Fleming For Assignment

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The Pirates announced that infielder/outfielder Ji Hwan Bae has been recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis and right-hander Hunter Stratton has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list. They opened one roster spot yesterday by placing outfielder Bryan Reynolds on the bereavement list and opened another today by designating left-hander Josh Fleming for assignment.

Fleming, 28, signed with the Bucs in the offseason and now gets the DFA treatment for the second time this year. The first time resulted in him clearing waivers and accepting an outright assignment, which eventually led to his second stint in the big leagues this year.

He has logged 31 1/3 innings for the Pirates between those two stints, allowing 4.02 earned runs per nine. His 54.3% ground ball rate is quite strong but both his 12.3% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk are subpar.

Fleming is out of options and can’t be sent down to the minors without first being exposed to waivers. He was non-tendered by the Rays at the end of last year and signed a deal with the Bucs that pays him $850K in the majors and $240K in the minors. As a player with more than three years of major league service time, he has the right to reject outright assignments in favor of free agency. But since he’s south of the five-year service mark, doing so means forfeiting whatever money he’s still owed. That’s likely why he accepted his assignment the last time Pittsburgh sent him through waivers and why he may do so again.

His numbers this year are fairly similar to his time with Tampa. Overall, he has a 4.77 ERA in 254 2/3 innings. He has struck out just 14.6% of batters faced but has kept walks down to a 7.6% clip and kept balls in play on the ground at a 58.4% rate.

Perhaps some club will be interested in acquiring Fleming in the coming days. With the trade deadline on Tuesday, some teams will be opening holes on their rosters via trade and might need to fill some innings. Fleming could be retained via arbitration for three more years after this one but, as mentioned, he cleared waivers once already this year.

NL Notes: Goldschmidt, Reynolds, Painter, Suarez

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The Cardinals have been among the most disappointing teams in the league this season. Despite coming into the season as the shoo-in favorite for the NL Central crown, St. Louis sports just a 34-48 record and is in fifth place in the NL Central, 9.5 games out of a playoff spot. That rough first half to the 2023 campaign led president of baseball operations John Mozeliak to admit that “some changes” were on the horizon for the Cardinals late last month, even as he pushed back against the idea of the club entering a full rebuild.

The Athletic’s Katie Woo expanded upon those comments today, suggesting that the Cardinals are likely to make most of their position player group available in trade talks as they look to retool the team, though she highlights Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras, Lars Nootbaar, and Jordan Walker as players who aren’t expected to be moved. Woo places the most emphasis on first baseman Paul Goldschmidt as a player who’s off-limits in trade as the deadline approaches.

The 35-year-old first baseman has posted another solid season for the Cardinals on the heels of his 2022 MVP campaign, slashing .289/.379/.498 in 359 plate appearances this season. A free agent after the 2024 campaign, speculation has swirled that the club might consider offers on Goldschmidt ahead of the trade deadline this year. Woo pushes back strongly against those rumors, arguing that a two-year extension this offseason is the “most likely scenario” regarding Goldschmidt. Such a deal would figure to take the veteran slugger through the end of his age-38 season in a Cardinals uniform.

More from around the National League…

  • The Pirates welcomed outfielder Bryan Reynolds back from the injured list today, per a club announcement. Pittsburgh’s star was on the shelf with a low back strain for just slightly over the minimum 10 days required, but the club struggled while Reynolds was away. Since Reynolds last appeared in a game on June 19, the club has gone 5-6 including key losses to division rivals in Chicago and Milwaukee. Reynolds, who’s slashing .279/.350/.473 in 294 plate appearances this season, will look to spark his club as they head into the All Star break with tough matchups against the Dodgers and Diamondbacks. In recent days, outfielder Josh Palacios has filled in for Reynolds in the outfield alongside Henry Davis and Jack Suwinski.
  • Phillies managed Rob Thomson tells reporters, including Destiny Lugardo of Phillies Nation, that top prospect Andrew Painter is set to face live hitters on Tuesday for the first time since he was shut down during Spring Training with a UCL sprain. In even more encouraging news, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com adds that Painter is not only expected to pitch competitively at some point this summer, but could make his big league debut sometime this season. That’s surely a relief for Phillies fans, given Painter appeared poised to slot into the club’s Opening Day rotation prior to his injury during the spring as baseball’s consensus top pitching prospect.
  • Padres reliever Robert Suarez is making progress in his return to a big league mound, beginning a rehab assignment in the Arizona Complex League as noted by Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Suarez has been on the 60-day IL all season dealing with an elbow injury, but was a key piece of the San Diego bullpen last season with a 2.27 ERA in 47 2/3 innings of work. Sanders adds that Suarez is expected back sometime after the All Star break. Upon his return, Suarez figures to bolster a bullpen that ranks bottom ten in the majors with a 4.26 FIP.

Pirates Place Bryan Reynolds On IL

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The Pirates announced they have placed outfielder Bryan Reynolds on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to June 20, due to low back inflammation. Right-hander Cody Bolton has been recalled in a corresponding move. Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette relayed the moves on Twitter prior to the official announcement.

Reynolds, 28, sat out the club’s past two games due to this back issue and it seems it has lingered enough that the club will give him some extra time to recuperate. Since the move is backdated by a couple of days, he can theoretically return in just over a week if he heals up quickly.

Since the club waited a few days before making this move, it’s possible that it’s not a significant injury and Reynolds will be back after a minimum stint. Nonetheless, it’s an ill-timed development for the club. The Pirates got off to a hot start this year but have fallen on hard times recently and are currently mired in a nine-game losing streak. They will now have to try to pull out of this tailspin without one of their best players.

Since debuting in 2019, Reynolds has hit 82 home runs and has a career batting line of .281/.360/.480 for a wRC+ of 126. He’s been essentially right in line with that production this year, hitting .279/.350/.473 on the season for a wRC+ of 122. He’s also swiped eight bags on the year and has solid marks from advanced defensive metrics for his work in left field.

With Reynolds out of action, the club has a few options available for filling the corner outfield spots next to center fielder Jack Suwinski. They recently recalled catcher/outfielder Henry Davis, who is in right field tonight with Connor Joe in left. There’s also Andrew McCutchen, who has missed a few recent games with an elbow issue but is back in the lineup as the designated hitter tonight. Calvin Mitchell and Josh Palacios are also on the roster and could factor into the mix.

Despite the club’s recent struggles, their 34-39 record has them just five games behind the Reds in the weak National League Central. The Bucs are reportedly open to going into the deadline as buyers this year, though that would surely depend upon them stopping their recent slide and staying relevant in the next five to six weeks. For at least the next week or so, they will have to do so without the contributions of Reynolds.

MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: Athletics Move, Twins Rotation, Reynolds Extension

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Episode 4 of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Simon Hampton is joined by Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press to discuss:

  • Oakland’s move to Las Vegas took a big step forward, so Betsy, who covered baseball for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, tells us about Vegas as a baseball city (1:35)
  • The Twins are off to a solid start to the season and Joey Gallo is hitting very well, so is he back? (5:24)
  • Minnesota is set to lose Sonny Gray, Tyler Mahle and Kenta Maeda to free agency this winter, so after the Pablo Lopez extension Betsy offers her thoughts on whether or not there’ll be any more rotation extensions for the Twins (7:26)

Plus, MLBTR’s Anthony Franco joins to talk:

  • Bryan Reynolds has agreed to an eight-year, $106.75MM extension with the Pirates – is this a good deal for the team? (15:01)
  • Madison Bumgarner has been designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks and looks headed for free agency; will he find a new team? (24:57)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

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