Kris Bryant is one of the top ten players in baseball. He hits around .300, belts 30-40 bombs, and drives in a ton of runs. Since joining the Cubs in 2014 he had led the team in WAR (16.9) by more than 5 wins and is second in all of baseball (trailing only Mike Trout).
With this there was news that the Cubs attempted to sign Kris this past offseason. With Kris consistently saying his agent Scott Boras was in charge of any of those conversations. Mentioning on WSCR that Scott would bring any attractive offer to his attention (paraphrasing).
We now know for sure that the Chicago Cubs offered Kris Bryant a huge contract extension. The deal would have bought out Bryant’s arbitration years, paying him much more than he could earn in arbitration. The proposed contract would have bought out a couple of his free agency years, which is always the gamble. It is a gamble because Bryant could potentially double his money when he hits the free agent market.
sources: cubs made a play to sign kris bryant long-term this winter but the conversation was very brief. here's why. https://t.co/WQwBeLejke
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 2, 2017
The talks didn’t last very long, not long at all, in fact Jon Heyman explains the team Bryant response was, “We’re good.”
It is shocking that if the two sides agreed upon talking this past winter, why wouldn’t there be a counter offer? It tells me that the dollars weren’t enough for Scott Boras to seriously take the offer to Kris, and certainly not enough to warrant a counter. I liken it to, if I was shopping for a Lamborghini and offered Honda Civic money, the dealership would laugh and walk away from the table saying, “We’re good.”
If you read the article, and I suggest you do, Boras mentions that he and Theo Epstein’s ideas on players like Bryant and buying arb years differ greatly.
“(The Cubs) talked about where they are philosophically. We understand what works for (Theo Epstein). And we understand what philosophy works for Kris Bryant,” Boras said. “Theo’s dynamic has worked for him. And Kris Bryant’s dynamic has worked for players like him.”
Boras has more of a point in these negotiations than the Cubs do. Typically when a team buys out the remaining arbitration years, it benefits the player through security and not guessing what the market will be like when he hits free agency. Kris and Scott know what his future market will be, and it’s TONS of dollar signs. Perhaps a half a billion dollar player.
Don’t expect a deal between the two sides anytime soon. A deal now only benefits the Cubs, and while we as fans would like Kris’ needs to align with the team’s, we shouldn’t cast our expectations on him.
It doesn’t appear that the negotiations, or lack there of, have had any effect on the reigning NL MVP. Still carrying a .934 OPS Kris ours the most dangerous bat in the Cubs lineup and hasn’t strayed too far from his .939 OPS in 2016.
*I regret that I made some edits just before walking into an appointment. In the edits autocorrect on my phone did what autocorrect does and brutally changed words. I should have waited until after the meeting so I could edit before updating the content.
