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| Photo credit: Gregory Bull/Associated Press |
If you're an avid Twitter user like me, your timeline has been flooded with two things the last few months. Pittsburgh Steeler mock drafts and Bryan Reynolds trade simulators. Both of them need to stop. The former were occurring before the draft order was even established. It is foolish and nobody cares about your Steelers mock drafts. It has become the new "nobody cares about your fantasy team". The latter isn't just annoying, but it's worthless because Bryan Reynolds is not getting traded this offseason.
I think there is a misconception among Pirate fans that there are only two options in the Pittsburgh Pirate/Bryan Reynolds saga. Either the Pirates sign Reynolds long-term, or the Pirates trade Reynolds.
Guess what, Pirate fans? There is actually a third option. Reynolds just plays for the team under his current contract.
See, despite what some may have you believe, the Pirates still have three years of control of Reynolds. He is under contract until 2025. In fact, the Pirates even bought out this season's arbitration year, so he is not even a restricted free agent this season. Reynolds is under contract as a Pittsburgh Pirate.
In addition to the years of control, Reynolds will not be traded because the Pirates are asking for a return that no team is willing to match. And they should be asking for such a return. Reynolds is the only proven MLB starter on the entire 40-man roster. At least one under the age of 40.
So then you have the goofs on Twitter begging the question, "if the Pirates want a king's ransom for Reynolds why aren't they presenting him with a King-type contract?" Because they don't have to!! Bryan Reynolds is under contract through the 2025 season. There is no rush to extend him. In fact, he is probably at his most expensive right now.
In my opinion, Reynolds has hit his ceiling. While I still expect 3-5 more seasons at that ceiling, I don't think he will put up exponentially higher numbers than he has every season, outside of 2020. So you're looking at Reynolds at his most valuable in regards to both trade value and contract extension expectation. That would lead one to say they should trade him if they're not going to extend him, but they haven't gotten blown away by an offer yet. And I think the most likely time to get blown away by an offer is at the trade deadline midseason, when teams know their weaknesses and are prepping for postseason runs.
Therefore, I see no team all of a sudden finding the resources they're willing to part with that matches what the Pirates are asking this offseason. Unless someone loses an outfielder in Spring Training to a season-ending injury it's not going to happen. And even then I don't see it happening this offseason. When it doesn't happen, Reynolds is still under contract until 2025. There's no changing that.
So please, quit with the Bryan Reynolds trade rumors, tweets, simulations, etc. It's a waste of your time and everyone is tired of seeing them.
Also, please quit with the NFL mock drafts. And every single one of them was wrong last season going into the 2022 draft. Nobody had the Steelers going Pickett and Pickens in the 1st and 2nd round. So just stop with it all. You're all making Twitter more unbearable than it already is.