Why the Cubs should just go ahead and trade everyone this offseason

Chicago Cubs: What will happen with Bryant’s last year of team control?

If anyone was going to be non-tendered, I figured it would be the guy making 20 million in his last year of arbitration who hasn’t put together a full season in quite some time. Despite his potential to be one of the best players in the game, we just haven’t seen that reality from Kris Bryant in a very long time.

Can anyone even be sure if we’ll ever see that guy again? Between issues with his wrist. elbow, knee, finger, and oblique, it’s hard to know if the slugger will ever be the guy from 2016 let alone the guy from 2019.

With all the talk about payroll and saving money, my guess is still that they move Bryant at some point this year, saving either his full salary or at least a pro-rated portion. Perhaps they’re looking for a possible hot start where they can flip him for prospects and save boatloads of money, but if they’re unloading guys, this would be my first bet.

The problem, of course, was alluded to earlier- the Cubs would have to hope for him to rebuild some credibility and confidence amongst other teams so that they’ll part with prospects in return for Bryant. Look for this attempt early to midseason if it doesn’t happen this winter still.