Cubs need to lock up Kris Bryant for the rest of his career

It’s been a stressful start to the offseason for the Chicago Cubs and little by little we are witnessing a fire sale. With Yu Darvish, Victor Caratini, Jon Lester, Kyle Schwarber, Jose Quintana and Tyler Chatwood already gone, the question has become ‘who’s next?’

There’s some speculation that it may be Kris Bryant. With the recent rumors that the Blue Jays and Mets may be interested, let’s take a look at why Bryant should be a Cub for life.

Bryant has had a roller coaster start to his career and he recently went on a Barstool Sports podcast and had a very personable interview about his baseball career. The media took Bryant’s comments about ‘not having fun anymore’ way out of context and it was just a bad look.

Amidst all the trade rumors and business side of baseball, Bryant gave an honest answer that he wants to get back to playing the game for the love of it, which is something he hasn’t been able to do the past few seasons.

It’s not every day you find a player with the character Bryant has. He’s humble, down-to-earth and a great teammate. Sure, he’s had his ups and downs in the Cubs uniform and he’s at a pivotal point in his career to prove himself again. To that point, the team cannot let him get away. The 2016 National League MVP has a career average of .280 with an OPS of .889 along three All-Star appearances and a Rookie of the Year award. He’s already done so much since entering the league in 2015 and has become a fan favorite.

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Bryant loves the city of Chicago and has made it known he would love to be here a long time. Coming off a season in which he batted .206 along with a 2019 in which he battled injuries, his value isn’t at its highest point, to say the least. The worst case scenario would be for the team, in another effort to save money, to deal him this offseason for a sad return. Every one hits a rough patch in their career and that’s what makes these players human. It would be wrong to jump ship at this time.

There’s a lot of speculation that the Cubs are only going to be able to sign two of Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez to long-term deals and that Bryant may be the odd man out. If Chicago is strapped for cash and isn’t in a position to win this year, trade away pieces that won’t be around long-term (ex. Craig Kimbrel) and preserve the funds to keep all three of Bryant, Baez and Rizzo.

Bryant is a chemistry guy with more potential than anyone on this team. If the Cubs have to overlook that for financial reasons it would be extremely disappointing. Jed Hoyer can’t let a player like this get away and if he did, the Cubs organization would regret it immensely.

The third baseman plays the game for the right reason, the love of baseball. He knows money and fame come into play which all may be great but to love the game, appreciate your teammates and the opportunity to play is something that so often gets overlooked. Having a staple with those views gives you the ‘franchise player’ type vibes.

One of the things Joe Maddon did so well with his team was making it fun. He did as much as he could to make his guys forget about the business side of things and prioritized the love of the game. When that gets taken away, performance suffers and stress builds. The Cubs need a core that loves the game and Bryant is one that can be a glue for this group. He deserves another chance in 2021 to prove he should be wearing a Cubs uniform his entire career.

The Cubs still have key pieces and the only hope is that the fire sale stops and we can look toward the 2021 season with some optimism. Let’s hope the worst is behind us this offseason and we’ll start to see some positive news for a change.