MESA, AZ. – Kris Bryant may be waiting a few more days before he shows up to the Cubs’ Spring Training facilities, but the Kris Bryant chatter sure as hell didn’t. The Cubs’ star third baseman plans to report to camp towards the end of the week – he’ll be a new Dad soon – but if you believe the rumors that have been swirling all offseason, how long he stays may be less certain. During their annual “spring” press conference, GM Theo Epstein and new manager David Ross both squashed the idea that, after an offseason that pitted the two against one another, Bryant and the Cubs were at odds.
“Anytime a great player’s name is out there, at all, that other teams want or other teams are open to moving, then it’s going to take on a bit of a life of its own,” Epstein said of the Bryant trade rumors that have dominated much of the offseason discussion. “Unfortunately it’s just part of the business, and something that players have to learn to deal with, especially as they move closer to free agency and especially if they’re not on long term contracts – they’re going to have to deal with that.”
Trade rumors can, understandably, dominate an unhealthy amount of headspace in a pro athlete. Even if Bryant’s winter had been solely that, you’d understand some discontent from the only player who’s *ever* won the Golden Spikes Award, MiLB Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and MVP in consecutive seasons. However, as you surely know, Bryant’s winter also featured the final ruling in a grievance he filed against the Cubs back in 2015. Bryant’s camp contested that the team manipulated his service time in a way that would prevent him from hitting free agency as early as possible. If he had his way, Bryant would be an unrestricted free agent after this upcoming season. An independent arbitrator disagreed and ruled that Bryant would remain under team control until after the 2021 campaign.
“All along, my view of the grievance has been that it was a byproduct of the business elements of the game. It was something that wasn’t our process, but something that we would participate in as requested and be respectful of,” Esptein said. “I admire players who, at the appropriate time, are willing to stand up and assert their rights. I don’t ever want players who bite their tongue and feel like they got jaded or feel like their rights were infringed upon.”
Service time manipulation has continued to grow into of the MLBPA’s most highly-contested issues as baseball heads towards what will be, by all accounts, unpleasant negotiations regarding the next Collective Bargaining Agreement. With that in mind, Epstein reached out to Bryant after the ruling with hopes of maintaining “our open dialogue, and the very healthy, positive, productive, mutually-beneficial relationship that the Cubs and Kris have had all the way back to 2013.”
“There was a process in place to deal with that, he went through it, we participated as requested. And in the end, if you read the arbitrator’s decision, I think our actions were validated and our approach was. But there were no hard feelings on either end, and I don’t resent Kris or hold it against him in any fashion. In fact, I respect that he was willing to do that even though it probably wasn’t easy.”
On the field, however inconsequential it currently sounds, the plan is to keep Bryant primarily at third base. Though he played 114 games there in 2019, he also spent a fair bit of time in left (18 games) and right (25) field. Ross hasn’t had an extended sit-down with Bryant yet – that’s what the opening days of Spring Training are for – but said on Tuesday that the team’s plan for him was relatively simple. He did, in his own light-hearted way, throw his support behind keeping Bryant on the roster.
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“Duh, don’t trade any of my All-Stars,” Ross joked. “I mean, yeah, I think that I really rely on Jed and Theo and the front office to do their job. I would be an absolute fool to try to deal with the experience they have, or try to sway the decision. They’ve got a bigger picture they’re looking at – I’m looking at win totals and championships, and players. Kris Bryant helps us win games.
“I just stay out of that area. Obviously if Theo calls me and asks me, ‘Do you want Kris Bryant on your team?’ I would tell him yes.”
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