Cubs Rumors: No extension talks with Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Anthony Rizzo

If you’re still holding your breath for a piece of out-of-the-blue extension news when it comes to the Chicago Cubs, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but it seems very unlikely at this point.

Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer held court with the media on Thursday and touched on every topic under the sun, including the fact that the organization is not currently talking about extensions with any of their core players.

That means at year’s end, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez will all test the waters of free agency for the first time. Barring a new deal, two-time All-Star catcher Willson Contreras will follow suit next offseason.

“Right now there aren’t (contract extension) discussions going on with the players,” Hoyer said. “It’s the middle of May, we’re playing and I think that’s not what’s on their minds. We always have the door open during the season, but we’re not going to actively reach out. I think we’ve been asked not to do that in a lot of ways because that’s not what the players want to deal with.”

Both Rizzo and Bryant issued Opening Day deadlines for extensions, which means the two will either be traded or simply run out the clock on the final year of their respective contracts. Baez and Contreras seem more open to talks – but there’s been nothing on that front, either.

Bryant is easily the team’s most valuable trade chip right now given his MVP-caliber showing so far in the 2021 campaign. He enters Friday’s matchup with the Cardinals second in the National League in WAR (2.2), according to Fangraphs and has bucked the league wide trend of lackluster offensive performances.

He’s done this while playing a different position on a near-nightly basis, only expanding the list of potential trade suitors we could see come calling this summer. Making nearly $20 million, that added versatility makes his price tag more palatable for contenders looking for a big bat.

Cubs have to ask whether or not they’re OK with Javier Baez’s inconsistency

Javier Baez has rebounded from a brutal start at the plate, raising his OPS+ to a 122 mark on the year, thanks largely in part to a strong showing in the power department (10 home runs).

Still, he’s struck out in north of 36 percent of his plate appearances, while drawing walks just 2.6 percent of the time. There’s been a lot of good and a lot of bad for the Chicago infielder – and his work over the last two years has seen him fall in stature compared with the rest of this winter’s loaded shortstop free agent class.

A team could trade for Kris Bryant and be fairly certain he’ll make them better. With Baez, though, that’s far less of a sure thing given his inconsistencies, both at the dish and in the field. He’s made nine errors at shortstop this year, the second-most among all players in the Senior Circuit.

Baez is certainly the most interesting free agent-to-be on this roster. When he puts it all together, he’s capable of being one of the best (and most entertaining) players in all of baseball. But he’s only really done that once – and his erratic swing-and-miss tendencies have proven costly over the years.

That’s not to say Chicago and the two-time All-Star won’t work out a deal. It’s totally possible Baez mans shortstop for the Cubs for years to come. But in such a scenario, Hoyer will have to accept the good with the bad, the lows with the highs because, at the end of the day, that’s who Baez is as a player at this point.