I don’t often get inside information, but on occasion, it has happened. Today I have learned that there have been several teams that have made recent inquiries on Kris Bryant, the Atlanta Braves being the most serious to this point.
While these are the early days of what will prove to be a rather weird offseason for baseball, there are already very interested suitors for Kris. One such suitor had a ton of interest before the World Series but pulled their interest back in the days following.
In 2020, Bryant hit .206/.293/.351 while posting his second-highest K-rate and lowest walk-rate of his career. But these struggles weren’t unique to Bryant, there were somewhere near 20 legitimate stars that had an OPS around 100 points (or more) lower than their career mark. We saw this struggle with Javier Baez (.599 OPS in 2020, .777 career OPS) and Anthony Rizzo (.755 2020, .857 career). Here are several others:
- Jose Altuve; .629 2020, .819 career
- Josh Bell; .699 2020, .814 career
- Joey Gallo; .679 2020, .825 career
- J.D. Martinez; .680 2020, .883 career
- Carlos Correa; .709 2020, .833 career
- Max Muncy; .720 2020, .843 career
- Matt Olsen; .734 2020, .838 career
- Nolan Arenado; .738 2020, .890 career
- Cody Bellinger; .789 2020, .911 career
- Joey Votto; .800 2020, .937 career
But we were looking at a weird “season” where a couple of good weeks or a couple of bad weeks could really make or break your season. Sprinkle an injury or two in there, and a season can easily get away from you. This is why I’d suggest for the powers that be to remove 2020 from each player’s “career” stats. Add a third bracket to a player’s baseball card, one for *Regular Season* one for *Playoff* and the third for *2020/COVID-19* stats.
The 2020 season was very strange and we (as noted) saw career-low seasons from many others, but the effects move past performance and into front offices. Teams on a tail end of a run will almost certainly look to reduce payroll a year or so earlier than expected, while teams that are in their window will make smart, short-term moves to solidify their chances.
This is exactly why a team like the Braves would look to make a run for Bryant. He will be a free agent in 2021, and they can either allow him to hit free agency after the season if needed. But, I think the Braves would be in a good position to sign Bryant long-term as well. They have Ronald Acuna and Ozzie Albies locked up long-term, if they cannot agree to terms with Freddie Freeman, Bryant would make a great replacement for him. They may just have the financial flexibility to sign both Freeman and Bryant since they only have like seven players committed to contracts with everyone else either in arbitration or in pre-arb.
The Braves aren’t the only club interested, as there has been lots of interest thus far. The other notable team from the source was the Boston Red Sox. While they have a third baseman in Devers, Bryant’s versatility allows him to play several positions or maybe one of the two finds themselves manning first base.
While I wouldn’t think a move happens before the Winter Meetings in December, with the amount of interest there is already I would bet something gets done sooner than later.
*This doesn’t mean Bryant is definitely gone either. There is a chance that there isn’t a match and he remains a Cub through the trade deadline in 2021.
