Kris Bryant has nothing but bad news to offer in his latest health update

Nine years ago, Kris Bryant looked like he was one of the game's next superstars-in-the-making. National League Rookie of the Year in 2015, NL MVP and World Series champion in 2016. It was a remarkable start to his big-league career and looked like the beginning of something truly special.

Even with the Chicago Cubs, he never recaptured the form that made him the face of the franchise during those two seasons - but Bryant was still a solidly above-average player. He was named to four All-Star teams and amassed 29.0 bWAR between 2015 and 2021, the year Jed Hoyer traded him to the San Francisco Giants in a trade deadline fire sale.

That winter, Bryant signed an exorbitant seven-year, $182 million contract with the Colorado Rockies that, four years in, ranks among the worst free agent deals in baseball history.

Kris Bryant continues to battle back pain, faces an uncertain future

The former first-round pick has been limited to just 170 games in a Rockies uniform by an array of injuries, most notably back problems that have plagued him incessantly in recent years. Speaking with the Denver Post this week, Bryant confirmed: there's little cause for hope when it comes to his ailing back, although he's not yet considering retirement.

“It’s exhausting for me waking up and hoping to feel [better],” Bryant said.  “I can’t tell you the last time I woke up feeling I’m in a good spot….If you asked me two or three months ago, I would say [my back pain] was not affecting my everyday life.  But now it is, which is really annoying to me because usually when you kind of just rest, it’s supposed to get better.  So maybe I’m at a point where I should just do a bunch of stuff to see if that helps me.”

His official diagnosis, lumbar degenerative disc disease, has him in pain doing basically everything baseball-related, apart from swinging, and he's not currently participating in any baseball-related activities. With a new front office set to take over this offseason, it'll be interesting how Colorado handles the more than $80 million left on his contract. He's not walking away from that money, but perhaps the Rockies and Bryant could agree on a deferral plan, should he continue to show no progress in his recovery.

Your heart breaks for the guy. He was always beloved during his time in Chicago (although some spoiled fans sure loved to rag on him when he wasn't at 100 percent) - and rather than putting together a Hall of Fame resume, it appears he burned out in the early years of his career, and his time with the Cubs will end up being the story of his MLB career.