Chicago Cubs: Think twice before you trade Kris Bryant this offseason

Well, we can check one box off in the offseason of Kris Bryant. The Cubs and Bryant avoided an arbitration hearing, agreeing to a one-year, $18.6 million contract for 2020 ahead of Friday’s deadline. Now, we all anxiously await a resolution to his service time grievance.

Said grievance has loomed over Theo Epstein and the front office the entire offseason, preventing them from trading Bryant and potentially unloading the payroll that would get the team under the $208 million competitive balance tax threshold. While it’s widely expected Bryant will lose the grievance, a team isn’t about to gamble on that outcome – which has stopped the team in its tracks.

Despite finishing third in the National League Central last season – winning just 84 games – the Cubs are one of two big league teams that are yet to sign a player to a Major League contract this winter. (The other being the Colorado Rockies). They’ve lost several significant pieces, including Cole Hamels, Pedro Strop, Steve Cishek, Brandon Kintzler, Nicholas Castellanos and Ben Zobrist.

The team reportedly plans to compete in 2020. But with the Cardinals potentially focused on adding Nolan Arenado to the mix and the Cincinnati Reds turning in their best offseason in years, that’s a tall task – one that’s likely easier completed with Bryant in tow.

Chicago Cubs: Don’t be a fool – Bryant is a tremendous player

The takes on Cubs Twitter this winter have been… well, they’ve been something else. It’s hard to take a lot of folks seriously given the opinions that are being cast about so nonchalantly. So, whether you like to admit it or not, here’s one for you: Kris Bryant is a great player.

Patrick Mooney of The Athletic (subscription required) offered up this nugget in his latest – which really puts things in perspective when it comes to just how good Bryant has been in a Cubs uniform:

… this is the entire list of hitters who have posted a higher combined WAR than Bryant (27.8) across the last five seasons, according to FanGraphs: Mike Trout (44.2) and Mookie Betts (35.4).

That’s it. That’s the list. Betts, of course, has been the focus in Boston for years – but this winter, for a different reason. With a new front office in place, the Red Sox seem to be following a similar map as the Cubs: get under the luxury tax threshold, no matter what. A Betts trade would undoubtedly help the club do so as he pulled in a record $27 million in his final year of arbitration.

Trout is the best player to ever step on a ball field. Simple as that. Mentioning him with any other player in the game today is silly because the gap between Trout and the rest of the league, simply put, is that tremendous.

So to mention Bryant in the same breath as these guys is telling. Injuries have knocked the former MVP and Rookie of the Year a bit off track in the last couple of years, but if he can stay healthy in 2020, he could be the differrence-maker the Cubs so desperately need under first-year manager David Ross.