Chicago Cubs have heard from Braves, Phillies on Kris Bryant

Everyone knew the grievance hearings could go either way – and without a resolution, the Chicago Cubs aren’t wasting time shopping Kris Bryant.

The 2019 Baseball Winter Meetings began in San Diego on Monday and the Chicago Cubs got right to work, reportedly fielding multiple calls on primetime players, including third baseman Kris Bryant.  Among the interested parties, according to Bruce Levine of 670 WSCR, were the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies.

Of course, Bryant’s unresolved grievance case hangs over all these discussions. The grievance itself stems from issue of Bryant being brought up from the minors in April 2015, two weeks after the season started.

Your favorite Cubs scribe wrote about it here and concluded it would be the number one reason that the former NL MVP would leave the organization. That was October 30 and based on what we’re hearing, I can’t believe that there’s a lot of mutual faith in a long-term marriage at this point.

At this point, the Cubs are saying that without a ruling, they essentially have to move forward. Of course they will try to find a deal that is amenable to all parties since the grievance could go against them in the end.

Chicago Cubs: Bryant to Phillies, Braves or free agency

Chicago is claiming in the grievance hearings that they are a busy organization; Bryant was not ready to come up and maybe they didn’t have spot at the time for him because they were still breaking in some other bucks on the team to get the season kicked off.

All of those reasons are perfectly legitimate for keeping any player and not just a future star like Bryant down those two weeks. Was the team that calculating and mischievous to actually plot a scheme to obligate a player an extra year? This is what MLB has to consider right now in the grievance filed by the MLBPA on behalf of Bryant.

So why are we talking about Atlanta and Philadelphia? As WGN’s Andy Koval writes, both teams have a lot of young talent that could be up for grabs in a potential Bryant deal.

“Both clubs look like they have the necessary prospects to pull off a Bryant trade if the Cubs want a pool of young players back. Possible fits from the Phillies are third baseman Alec Bohm, right hander Spencer Howard and middle infielder Bryson Stott. According to MLB, the Braves have a better farm system than Philadelphia. Possible prospect fits are outfielder Cristian Pache, RHP Ian Anderson and RHP Kyle Wright.

With Chicago invested so heavily in older talent that played an instrumental role in their 2016 title run, they haven’t focused on developing the new generation of impact talent – regularly using said talent as trade chips. But with the team in a payroll crunch, shedding Bryant’s projected $18.5 million salary could help lessen the massive spending the Cubs have had the past couple years.