New York Yankees fans lament losing prospect of trading for Bryan Reynolds: "Guess Hicks is here to stay" "There goes that dream"

Long-rumored New York Yankees trade target Bryan Reynolds signed an eight-year, $106 million contract extension to remain with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday.

As Kevin Spacey said in "The Usual Suspects": "And like that, he's gone."

The shock news of Reynolds re-upping with the Pirates, coming as the long-forgotten team suddenly began the week with the best record in the National League, caught many Yankees fans with their pants down.

Much of the baseball world figured that, but prayed against, the fact that Bryan Reynolds would just become a New York Yankee at some point in the near future.

Now that the prospect of that happening is off the table, much of the MLB Twitterverse is celebrating as Yankee Nation comes to terms that there's no cavalry coming to rescue them from starting Aaron Hicks in left field for the foreseeable future.

New York Yankees fans long for the days of their Goliath team roaming the big leagues and taking practically any player they want, either by offering gobs of liquid cash or by trading off their farm system's best prospects.

Neither of those things happened with Bryan Reynolds, and the fact that such a small market David was able to fend off the giant's advances has Yankees fans confused, bewildered and angry.

Somehow, Aaron Hicks looks like he will be wearing pinstipes for a while. Every Yankeesfan has crossed their fingers with every middling acquisition or minor-league call-up that the noodle-swining outfielder with a lifetime .229 batting average will be cast-off from Yankee Stadium.

And yet Hicks, like a cockroach after a nuclear explosion, is still there. He is signed to a seven-year, $70 million contract that runs through 2025.

That's right. New York is paying Hicks just $3.5 million less per year than Pittsburgh will be paying Reynolds.

Some New York Yankees fans are trying to console themselves in the wake of the Bryan Reynolds extension news. It is said that traumatic loss can cause people to cycle through the stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance – several times.

Where do the New York Yankees turn after coming up empty on Bryan Reynolds?

Bryan Reynolds of the Pittsburgh Pirates rounds the bases after hitting a home run.

No one is quite certain where the Yankees will turn now that Reynolds won't be coming to the Bronx. But at the very least, Hicks is contractually obligated to play in New York for nearly three more seasons.