Pirates star’s no-trade list narrows down Blue Jays deadline choices

It is not uncommon for a star player’s no-trade list to become public knowledge around the trade deadline. It allows opposition General Managers to know where they should or shouldn’t be spending their time while trying to negotiate to improve their team.

Several teams were recently told to stay away from one player with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and no it is not pitching phenom Paul Skenes. The no-trade list that became public a few days ago belonged to Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds, and it included six teams, one of which was the Toronto Blue Jays.

Pirates star’s no-trade list narrows down Blue Jays deadline choices

The Blue Jays are said to be looking for a right-handed bat at this years deadline and the outfield is an area they may need to focus on. They have several left-handed hitting options out there between Nathan Lukes, Addison Barger, and now Joey Loperfido on the roster. Daulton Varsho also hits left-handed, and he’ll figure to be an everyday player when he returns from the injured list, while Anthony Santander is a switch hitter.

You can see a case being made for the Blue Jays at least being interested in Reynolds. Not just with the handedness of his bat, but the seven-year veteran is a two-time All-Star who has four straight seasons of 24 or more home runs, with his lowest on-base percentage at .330 in the past four seasons. He’s accumulated a bWAR of 14.9 with a 125 OPS+ with 233 of his 633 hits going for extra-bases.

However, the timing of this no-trade list seems doesn’t make sense a ton of sense for everyone involved. The other teams listed are all big market teams who are in playoff contention this year; the Yankees, the Mets, the Dodgers, the Giants and the Padres. So keeping those teams off the list really hurts the Pirates ability to negotiate with teams who could be willing to offer a little more to have Reynolds as part of their playoff stretch run.

It’s also probably the worst time to shop around Reynolds as his value is the lowest it has ever been. Yes, he has had four very good seasons since 2021, however this year he has been a below average player. He’s slashed just .229/.294/.378 with 10 home runs. He has a negative bWAR of -0.6 and his defensive value has also been way below league average, coming in at a -7.6 fWAR.

The Pittsburgh Pirates signed Reynolds to seven-year $100 million contract in August of 2023. Any team looking to acquire him would have to weigh paying him the remainder of that contract which runs until 2031 (including all the options). The other option is the Pirates, who notoriously don’t spend money, would have to eat some of that salary to get at least some decent prospects in return.

The Pirates sit at the bottom of the National League Central with a 38-54 record entering Tuesday’s action and are one of the few teams in MLB who should be considered true sellers. For the Blue Jays, they can cross Reynolds right off their list in their search for a right-handed hitter.