Bryan Reynolds, Pirates, finalize $106.75M, 8-year deal

Wed, Apr 26, 2023
MLB News (AP)

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The Pittsburgh Pirates are building around outfielder Bryan Reynolds.

Pittsburgh and the 28-year-old switch hitter finalized the largest deal in franchise history on Wednesday, a $106.75 million, eight-year contract.

The agreement was announced less than five months after Reynolds requested a trade. The Pirates insisted they were committed to keeping Reynolds in the fold and eventually, the two sides came to an agreement on a contract that could keep Reynolds in Pittsburgh for the rest of the decade.

The deal includes a club option for 2031 that could make the agreement worth $124.75 milliion over nine years and a limited six-team no-trade provision.

"Throughout this process, one thing that I always made clear to Bryan was just how much we appreciate him as a player and person, and how important he is to our future success," Pirates chairman Bob Nutting said in a statement. "Today is another important step forward for our organization."

Reynolds came to Pittsburgh in January 2018 as part of a trade that sent star outfielder Andrew McCutchen to San Francisco. Reynolds made his major league debut on April 20, 2019, and has been one of the few fixtures for a club in the midst of a bottom-up overhaul orchestrated by general manager Ben Cherington.

MLB

Reynolds, who made the All-Star team in 2021, is a career .282 hitter. He is batting .294 with five home runs and 18 RBIs through 22 games for Pittsburgh, which at 16-8 was off to the franchise's best start since 1992.

Reynolds had been scheduled to earn $6.75 million in the second season of a $13.5 million, two-year contract and would have been eligible for free agency after the 2025 season.

Instead, Reynolds will receive a $2 million signing bonus payable within 30 days of the contract's approval by the commissioner's office and salaries of $6.75 million this year, $10 million in 2024, $12 million in 2025, $14 million in 2026 and $15 million in each of the following four seasons. Pittsburgh's 2031 option is for $20 million with a $2 million buyout.

He gets a hotel suite on road trips starting with the 2024 season.

Reynolds would get a $250,000 bonus for winning NL MVP, $150,000 for second and $100,000 for third, $75,000 for a Silver Slugger, $50,000 for election or selection to the All-Star Game or for winning World Series MVP, and $25.000 each for a Gold Glove or League Championship Series MVP.

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