Cubs: Buster Olney talks Kris Bryant, trade rumors and contract extensions

Cubs: Make baseball fun again – because it hasn’t been for a lot of guys

Five years ago, the Cubs looked like they were about to embark on a dynastic quest. They’d arrived on the scene earlier than most expected, making an improbable run to the NLCS under first-year manager Joe Maddon in 2015. Kris Bryant had won NL Rookie of the Year and in 2016, the stars seemed to align in Wrigleyville.

Of course, Chicago won it all that year – marking the team’s first World Series championship in 108 years – but since, have failed to deliver on the hype that once surrounded this group. The team made the NLCS again in 2017, but were running on fumes, got knocked out in the Wild Card Game the next year and missed the postseason altogether in 2019.

So what went wrong? According to Olney, it comes down to two things: the lack of homegrown pitching under Theo Epstein – and a lack of ‘fun’ in the game after the Cubs won it all in 2016.

I do think that, having covered the Yankees teams from ’98 to 2001, one of my theories about this group of Cubs players is it became hard to be them. It became hard to be the team in Chicago that was expected to win and then ’17, ’18, ’19, the conversation becomes negative. I thought Kris Bryant’s comments during the window reflected that shift – I think baseball became less fun for this group of players.

The energy and swagger those Cubs teams of five and six years ago had hasn’t been seen at the Friendly Confines in some time. Now, it’s all about slow starts, underperforming stars and a constant stream of criticism from fans and the media  – and, at the end of the day, it exacts a high toll on these guys who, at the end of the day, are human beings.

Cubs have to get it going or the front office could tear it all down

We know the Cubs have to play better than they have in the first two weeks, during which the team has limped to a 6-8 record – pretty remarkable given how badly the offense has struggled during that stretch.

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Olney confirmed as much, but also pointed out that if that doesn’t happen and Chicago is a seller this summer, it won’t be the end of July when we start hearing trade rumors and speculation around key players.

I think everybody’s on the table. At that point, and I think it’s going to be sooner rather than later, if you decide you’re trading the core guys, you might as well trade everyone who has value this year.

Of course, with more than half of the roster in its final year of control, there could be a lot of moving pieces come the July 30 trade deadlines – namely the aforementioned trio of cornerstones in Bryant, Rizzo and Baez. A trade involving any of those three would send an unmistakable message: the Cubs are, once again, rebuilding for the future.

If the Cubs don’t turn it around in the next two months, by mid-June I think we could start to hear rumblings of them telling other teams that the ‘for sale’ sign is up on their players – and it would be sweeping.

Sweeping change isn’t something we’ve dealt with at the Friendly Confines for some time. But it sounds like it could be coming for the North Siders in a matter of months, especially if the team fails to pick up any real momentum between now and June.