The moment the Chicago Cubs drafted superstar third basemen, Kris Bryant, was the day that it could be projected that they would win the World Series. Bryant was that good. He signaled to the baseball world that the Cubs were seriously changing and will be here for good. But there has always been a sense that Bryant is on rented time with the Cubs. From the service clock games that the Cubs played with Bryant, ensuring that they would capture an extra year of control, to some rumors that he has turned down the notion of talking about a contract extension.
That led fans to start talking about what the Cubs should do with the young slugger. Should they trade him now and get as much in return for him, or should they keep him around and win as much as possible with Bryant on the field, while continuing to toss offers at him until his impending free agency.
That talk had quieted a bit over the past couple of weeks, and frustration over the lack of offseason noise has taken its place, but with Gordon Wittenmyer sitting in for David Haugh, on Mully and Haugh on 670-AM The Score, he declared that Bryant is not going to be with the Cubs (here is a link to the hour long segment).
“Bryant’s not coming back as a free agent,” Wittenmyer on 670 The Score.
The topic was brought up when discussing the Cubs financial situations. As Mike Mulligan suggested that the Cubs didn’t have money to compete in this offseason, Wittenmyer corrected him by stating the Cubs have money, “Theo does not.”
This progressed the conversation to creative ways to sign a guy like Harper, but even in those cases it creates a Bryant or Javier Baez conversation once the two become free agents in 2022. This is when Wittenmyer told Mully that the Cubs have been content with the fact that Bryant is gone once he hits free agency anyways, and that they have been since potentially the day they drafted him.
I don’t know if the statements by Wittenmyer were true, and often times when you are on radio you are speaking from opinion and not from fact. Sure, his opinion is based on certain facts that he is aware of. Some of these are, the Cubs will indeed need to find pitching as the contracts of Cole Hamels, Jon Lester, and Jose Quintana begin to fall off. Combined those three will make $57.5 million in 2019.
Pitching isn’t cheap, and the only way to get cheap pitching is the most dangerous way possible – the draft.
Drafting pitchers is a highly volatile approach. The success rate on drafting high on a pitcher, and that guy succeeding is incredibly low, look no further than the only player drafted before Bryant – Mark Appel. He went from a sure thing in 2014, to a pitcher with a 5.00 ERA in five minor league seasons.
So if drafting isn’t the best route, that means trading and spending on pitching. Trying to find deals like the Quintana trade to improve the club going into the future. The problem is, those types of deals could backfire as you begin to see the players you dealt rise to the majors and potential stardom.
There’s risk in it all, regardless of what happens. Bottom line is, the Cubs fortunes with Bryant on the roster are much better than their fortunes without him on the roster. As much as it might hurt to see him leave in free agency, there are no guarantees, as it seems like Gordo suggests. The Cubs will make every effort to re-sign Bryant. They will make every attempt to give him a huge contract in the winter of 2022. Another factor Wittenmyer forgets is, baseball and the player’s union will be operating under a new CBA, and that will play much more into any player’s or team’s actions than service clocks and current contracts.
Bottom line, we just don’t know what Bryant or Scott Boras will do in 2022. Heck, the way the last two offseasons have gone, there’re no guarantees that the projected money is even there. So let’s stop living in a make believe world where we’re guessing at outcomes and enjoy what we know will happen – the Cubs will be relevant as long as Bryant is on the roster.
