Yankees showing interest in blockbuster trade for Bryan Reynolds

Are the New York Yankees really going to go all out to not only upgrade from Aaron Hicks, but fill their center field gap with Pittsburgh Pirates superstar Bryan Reynolds, who’s under control for the next four years?

We’d bet against it, but … out of nowhere, the Reynolds-Yankees connection was the talk of the Twitterverse on Thursday morning, just a few hours after the Bombers polished off their 40-man roster with the addition of Joely Rodriguez.

Clearly, a deal has to happen in the next week. And, in the best-case scenario, that deal includes four or five players in exchange for a single star.

Matt Olson of the Oakland A’s still feels like the likeliest deal, but Reynolds emerged on Thursday morning as a more costly alternative dream, just in the nick of time.

Jon Morosi, who originally reported the connection, cited the Yankees and Mariners as the two teams most interested — though, again, everybody should be at least engaged on Reynolds. He’s basically a top prospect, except with two years of All-Star-level MLB experience already under his belt.

Everything should be on the table. Yes, including Jasson Dominguez. Weren’t you at least a little worried about his progression this year? Then trade him for someone who’s already a star. It’s that simple.

What would a Yankees-Bryan Reynolds trade look like?

The package going to the Pirates here would be huge — hopefully, they’ve chosen to forego their “Yankees Tax” from the Gerrit Cole talks.

It certainly starts at either Dominguez or Anthony Volpe, then includes many of the same names from the Olson talks. Our best guess is Martian/Oswald Peraza/Luis Gil/Everson Pereira/Randy Vasquez?

Don’t like it? Then get out of the pool. Reynolds slashed .302/.390/.522 with great defense at a position of need last year at the age of 26. You can have him ’til he’s 31. There’s little to no risk here, except for the uncomfortable reality that you’d really be emptying out the farm system.

There’s a reason simply signing Starling Marte, using nothing but money, feels preferable to this massive swing.

Trading for Reynolds would have baseball fans across the country crying about fairness and grousing about how the Yankees get everyone. Meanwhile, if the Mariners made the move and gutted their farm system, that risk would be universally applauded.

Hopefully, we’ll have a chance to reckon with this reality when the Yanks finish the job in a few weeks. It’s certainly as “all in” as a move can get.

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