PITTSBURGH — When Ke’Bryan Hayes sat at the front of the PNC Park press conference room to discuss his then-record extension in April 2022, the fate both sides wanted to avoid was this — a trade and the depressing situation surrounding it.

What the Pittsburgh Pirates did Wednesday — sending Hayes to the Cincinnati Reds for Taylor Rogers and minor league infield prospect Sammy Stafura — was also the right move.

And a necessary one, as the team thinks about 2026 and beyond.

Hayes remains an elite fielder, a Gold Glove winner and one of the best defensive players in all of Major League Baseball, regardless of position. He’s also a poor fit for the offensively challenged Pirates, who simply have to get more from their corner infielders.

(Hayes and Spencer Horwitz have combined for five home runs in 157 MLB games this season, which is obviously horrendous.)

Through 100 of his own contests, Hayes is hitting just .236 with a .569 OPS. He has the exact same slugging percentage (.290) as last year and a wRC+ of 57 (100 is considered average) that was the second-worst among all qualified hitters.

It was actually a solid trade for Pirates general manager Ben Cherington, who hasn’t made many of them. And it has nothing to do with any of the immediate prongs of the transaction:

— Jared Triolo should eventually return to the big leagues. I don’t have much confidence that he’ll hit, but at least there won’t be much of a defensive dropoff. They could also try Nick Gonzales or Liover Peguero there.

— Rogers is a mercenary, but he’s not bad. He’s pitched to a 2.45 ERA over 40 appearances and will add some professionalism to close out the year. Would imagine his three-year, $33 million contract prohibits any sort of flip, though you never know.

— Stafura intrigues me. He’s considered Cincinnati’s No. 9 prospect by MLB Pipeline, was a second-round pick (43rd overall) in 2023 and has an .804 OPS in Low-A at age 20. We’ll see. The Pirates’ track record with this sort of stuff has also been abysmal, so we should probably all temper our expectations.

The victory comes with opening up a spot and getting out from under the five years left on Hayes’ contract, allowing the Pirates to spend that $7 million yearly salary (which only increases) a different way.

By the way, yes, it would be splendid if we didn’t describe the Pirates like they play in a capped league. It’s also not reality.

Bottom line, it’s just a shame that it came to this, Hayes never realizing his potential in Pittsburgh and the best move for all involved becoming a trade — because the player hasn’t been the right fit, and the team has struggled with him employed.

It’s not the way I saw this ending while covering Hayes’ incredible September 2020 debut, the excitement that surrounded him that following spring or his record-at-the-time $70 million extension.

Hayes was supposed to be the heir apparent to Nolan Arenado at third base and sort of was, at least defensively. But not anywhere close with the bat.

In 2021-22, while Hayes was hurt a bunch, he hit just .249 with a .671 OPS, the contract feeling like an albatross at the time. Then late-season ’23 happened, Hayes rediscovering that debut form over the final two months, hitting .299 with 10 home runs and an .874 OPS over the final 49 games.

That, though, seemed to create another significant fissure with the organization. I reported later in 2023 that Hayes had been working with minor league coach Jon Nunnally, which didn’t sit well with those in charge.

Nunnally then lost his job that October, and Hayes regressed in a big way the next season, hitting just .233 with a .573 OPS. It’s been about the same in 2025 (.236 and .569), though Hayes’ defense has returned to its Gold Glove form.

The deal was actually smart by Cherington because the Pirates don’t need a Gold Glove-winning third baseman. They need someone who can hit.

Hayes hasn’t provided more than three months of evidence — spread over several years — to indicate he’s capable of being that guy.

Which is why I can’t criticize Cherington here, even for trading with a division rival, as it’s a move I pretty much expected him to make.

My confidence Hayes would ever find it here was actually larger than however you want to describe my belief (non-existent) that Cherington will correctly identify and apply offensive upgrades. There has just been too much bad, too many misses.

The Pirates need to proceed through the trade deadline with ample caution, trading only guys on expiring contracts the rest of the way, then re-examining their direction in a big way this offseason.

In other words, fire the GM and hire someone with actual small-market experience.

No contender will give you enough offense to justify trading Mitch Keller, while the focus must become competing — and fixing the offense is a huge first step — in 2026.

It’s not what anyone expected back in 2022. But due to mutual underperformance by the team and player, it became a sad-but-true reality on Wednesday, a move the Pirates were absolutely right to make.

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