The latest with Kris Bryant's future |
As the dust begins to settle on a newly agreed upon collective bargaining agreement, various teams and players have begun to trade, sign, acquire and build.
The Cubs have remained fairly quiet, signing Andrelton Simmons and a collection of pitchers — but no major moves of consequence yet for the Northsiders. Not even an extension of all-star catcher Willson Contreras or even talks of one to report out of Spring Training in Arizona yet. There are also plenty of big-name former Cubs out there — Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Nicholas Castellanos, Joc Pederson and Jorge Soler to name a few — that are some of the most coveted free agents of the class, joining Freddie Freeman, Carlos Correa, Trevor Story and some others who signed before the lockout like Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Marcus Stroman and others. The Cubs have been a rumored fit for just about every player mentioned above, but Bryant’s is a case that appears unlikely. Bryant spent seven seasons in Chicago, hitting .279 with 160 home runs, 465 RBIs and 564 runs scored — accumulating the 2015 NL Rookie of the Year award, the 2016 NL MVP award, four all-star appearances, and being a cornerstone on the curse breaking 2016 World Series team, all while playing six of the eight fielding positions. His defensive versatility, elite base running and his prowess at the plate make him an attractive free agent as his age 30 season approaches. However, the Cubs do nit appear likely to pay Bryant the big contract he, and his agent Scott Boras, desire — likely the reason they traded Bryant away to the Giants in the first place. When those Giants returned to Wrigley, and Bryant received a piece of the scoreboard, a banner and endless applause, it seemed like a fitting way to close the book on Bryant — even though he still has some good years left in his playing career. While Bryant has a fit with this current Cubs team, there are other teams rumored to be heavily pursuing the World Champion. The Phillies have been reported to be trying to acquire Bryant. They have a hole at third base and Bryant’s best baseball friend, MVP Bryce Harper on the roster. The Mets have been a team rumored to be acquiring Bryant for a couple of years now. As he is now on the open market, expect the high-paying Mets to make an offer to Bryant. Most recently, Jon Heyman and other various reporters have linked Bryant to the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies are far from competing, but they believe shoring up Nolan Arenado’s absence at the hot corner is the first step to returning to competency. In addition, the up-and-coming Seattle Mariners are looking for a third basemen now that Kyle Seager has retired and the heavy-hitting but poor-fielding Chicago White Sox are looking for a player like Bryant as well as others who are in the mix for the four-time All-star. There were rumored offers that the Cubs made during his time in Chicago to try an extend the super-utility man, but nothing ever came to fruition. Jed Hoyer said at the trade deadline that his offers will stack up nicely with what some of these players get in the open market. Even after the CBA agreement, it will be interesting to see if Hoyer is correct — and if the Cubs could have afforded signing Bryant, or any of the other former Cubs on the market. We’ll see where Bryant ends up signing, and for how much. While it appears unlikely it will be with the Cubs, KB always has a home on the Northside of Chicago.
