This hurts. We just watched the core of one of the greatest stretches in Chicago Cubs history get decimated in less than 24 hours. Faces of the franchise – guys who, five years ago, we assumed would spend their entire careers on the North Side: gone.
Clearly, Kris Bryant – who was traded to the San Francisco Giants just ahead of Friday’s 3 p.m. CT trade deadline – is feeling the same way all of us are after a brutal day.
Kris Bryant has reportedly been traded to the San Francisco Giants.
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) July 30, 2021
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You see Bryant taking the call, presumably learning of the trade, then hanging up. As he heads toward the visitor’s clubhouse at Nationals Park, where the Cubs kick off a weekend series tonight, he visibly tears up.
This guy left it all on the field. Although some like to call him soft or oft-injured, Bryant constantly played through the grind of a 162-game season, even through injuries we had no idea of until way, way after the fact. He helped erase a 108-year championship drought, arrived on the scene in a big way as a rookie in 2015 and the rest, as they say, is history.
National League Rookie of the Year. NL MVP. World Series champion. Four-time All-Star. The sixth-highest OPS and slugging percentage in Chicago Cubs history. And a memory forever etched into the hearts and minds of fans everywhere – fielding a slow roller on a November night in Cleveland, his back foot sliding just a touch as he lets the ball fly across the diamond.
Thank you for everything, Kris. There’s really nothing more anyone can say.