The Pirates have Botched Bryan Reynolds' Arbitration Case

Story by Yinzer Crazy Featured Pirates Contributor David Stegon. Follow him on Twitter @DavidStegon

For $649,900 you can buy this stupid looking house in Mt. Washington, where on a bright sunny day you could take a hearty two-mile walk to PNC Park and see Bryan Reynolds and the rest of the Pirates get their brains smashed in by the Brewers.

Go see Reynolds soon because the Pirates do not seem to value his services. 

You may have heard that Reynolds and the Pirates will soon go to salary arbitration over what amounts to that shitty house. Reynolds wanted $4.9 million. The Pirates offered $4.25 million. No one budged and now it will go to an arbitrator short of an extension being signed (I’m not hopeful at this point).

While $650,000 is a substantial amount of money to a corporate drone like myself, it means very little for a professional baseball team – even one that routinely cries poverty like the Pirates.

The Pirates should have simply paid Reynolds to keep him happy for that price. No guarantee meeting Reynolds’ demands would entice him to sign a long-term contract, but it would certainly avoid the very real possibility of pissing him off.

Take it from Neil Walker, who had this to say after he was traded to the Mets after a quick contract negotiation: “I just felt there was some kind of justice due me. I don’t want to come off as (having) any kind of huge ego here, but to play 12 years in the same organization, grind out six-plus years (in the majors) and go through arbitration three times ... I really didn’t think what I was asking for was very unreasonable.”

Exactly. 

If Reynolds said, “I want $3 billion, a diamond helicopter, and a date with Zendaya” then maybe the Pirates should think twice. Reynolds asking for a salary bump that is still well-below market value for a player of his caliber seems more than reasonable.