Chicago Cubs: Reports contradict rumor of Kris Bryant rejecting extension

As you all know by now, Kris Bryant reportedly rejected a contract extension this summer. Or did he? Now, the validity of that report is under question.

Well, well, well.  How things have changed in a day. 24-plus hours ago, we were all talking about how Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant reportedly turned down a contract extension worth ‘well north of $200 million.’ That initial report, which came from David Kaplan of ESPN 1000, is now under siege on multiple fronts.

The lesson that seems to have come out of all this? Words matter.

We live in a time where the media at-large and individual reporters will say things and spin words as clickbait to entice the casual person to read an article or listen to your show. We hear about ‘fake news’ on a daily basis and are often left wondering whether our news sources are trustworthy in their reporting of the news.

This appears to be one of those times where words could have been specifically used to stretch or distort factual events. At the very least, Kaplan’s use of the word ‘several’ is disingenuous. At worst, it’s tabloid fodder.

Chicago Cubs: Kaplan’s word choice comes under fire

Using the word ‘several,’ as it applies to months ago, gives fans the idea that this supposed KB contract extension was something that happened over the summer.  Namely, while Kris Bryant was sidelined with a shoulder injury.  The optics of that led a lot of baseball fans to believe that the Cubs were trying to take advantage or low-ball Kris Bryant because of said injury.  It also angered fans who thought the latter was being greedy. The truth is neither of these is necessarily correct.

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David Kaplan reported that Kris Bryant had turned down a $200+ million contract within the past several months.  To most people, a couple is two; several would be three or four. That puts us squarely in the summer that just passed. Not the offseason. No sane person would acknowledge that several months ago was January or February. Yet, those are the words that Kaplan used. No doubt on purpose. And, he doubled down on his word choice when called out by The Athletic‘s Sahadev Sharma, saying in a tweet that, “last offseason is the last several months.”

Hmmmm. Sharma initially gave Kaplan an out to acknowledge a “stretch” or semantic difference, but Kaplan merely trolled Sharma and other people commenting on his tweet, including a response to one person saying, “you need a calendar kid” when it was pointed out that Spring Training was seven months ago. Classy.

While it’s difficult to completely understand or prove intent, it certainly seems as though David Kaplan knew exactly what he was doing and then was annoyed when called out for doing it. He may have simply been reporting on and discussing something that was of consequence, or he could have been trying to stir a pot with a topic that would most certainly make people perk up and pay attention.