With everything at Cubs Camp understandably controlled, the way players meet the media will be heavily regulated. So it has things like “today was Kris Bryant’s day.”
Bryant just spoke on a variety of topics, including how the testing issues that stopped other camps have really impacted the Cubs:
It was tested on Tuesday and then yesterday. These boys had been present since last Sunday, had been evaluated once and it had been much more than two days before the second test.
– Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) July 6, 2020
Players are supposed to be evaluated every other day for positive results before there is a possibility of excessive transmission between a group of players or staff. Spending five days between tests is completely unacceptable if this is to work. Bryant is correct: we knew there would be a quick adjustment process, but a total failure of the tests? That cannot happen. Either that was dramatically cleaned up this week, or the season is very clearly in jeopardy.
Bryant, who is a new dad, is not considering choosing not to participate, although he does have doubts:
Bryant asked if he is still weighing whether to retire:
“Can you imagine me choosing not to participate? I just couldn’t do that. I’m going to do everything I can to be safe and healthy and lead by example.”
– Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) July 6, 2020
Bryant: “It is not a guarantee that we will play or end the season. Everyone knows that.”
He says he won’t unsubscribe but he’s worried
– Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) July 6, 2020
Bryant said he agreed to play this year because he hoped to feel safe, but in light of the testing issues in the league: “Honestly, I don’t feel that way, so I’m trying to keep my distance from everyone and wear my mask.”
– Maddie Lee (@maddie_m_lee) July 6, 2020
The decision is personal for all players in both directions, but it is useful to consider the context where it is available. For Bryant, choosing not to participate would mean no service time this year, which would mean that next year would no longer be his year of walking before free agency: he would be under control for two more years. Given his experience with team control and service time complaint, there was never any chance that he would choose not to participate unless there was a high-risk health situation.
But come on. You need the players to be safe and comfortable. MLB has failed them this week.
As for a mid-season swap, Bryant is trying not to worry about it:
In the possibility of being negotiated at 8/31 deadline:
“I wish it wasn’t a concern. I would like to think that they wouldn’t send me in the middle of a pandemic. “– Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) July 6, 2020
I would add that, in addition to being a unique challenge on a human level, it is very difficult for me to see Bryant grant the Cubs great booty in an exchange this year, when there is much about what this season will be. uncertain (a team is, what, going to give up a lot of prospects and then see the season close before the playoffs?), and when their expected increase in umpiring will make their last year of team control It’s too expensive in the new economic environment. I wouldn’t be too concerned if it was Bryant.
Instead, maybe this whole situation will present a different opportunity? An extension where before it was not realistic? Bryant doesn’t want to speculate at a time like this, but he sure is open to it:
Bryant remains open to discussing a long-term deal with the Cubs, but said he feels it is “callous” to discuss such things publicly right now when “people are losing their jobs and their lives.” Bigger issues in the world right now than your contractual situation.
– Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) July 6, 2020
Bryant, on his future: “You want to be surrounded by people who love and care for you, and I certainly felt like being a Chicago Cub.”
– Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) July 6, 2020
I listened to it several times to be sure … Bryant was asked, considering what had happened, including having a baby, if he would be “more open to an extension than he could have been before”:
“I would say ‘yes’.
– Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) July 6, 2020
What will be very difficult for the teams and players heading into this offseason and next year is that they not only have to account for the massive revenue losses this year, but they ALSO have to account for the anticipated losses on Next year if COVID-19 is still a problem (and at some level, it probably will be), and they ALSO have to account for the anticipated losses linked to the overall loss of marginal sports fans who are out for so long, and They also have to account for the CBA expires after next year.
It could offer an explanation as to why all of that combines to mean that it’s a very good idea for players of Bryant’s caliber to block any extensions they can get right now, but I’m a very risk-averse person. Bryant, who has already made a lot of money and bet on himself before, may not share those concerns. He could be fine playing next year and making it to free agency, just like he seemed to do. The timing of the pandemic is dire for his career path, because now this difficult decision has been forced upon him, with so much interruption, and when he is otherwise slated to be a free agent in his 30-year season.
But, as Bryant aptly says, it still feels out of place to get into the financial weeds in something like this when much of our focus is on how the pandemic is affecting so many people. In the grand scheme of things, financially, Bryant will be fine. Now it is an open question about whether the situation has changed our expectations about whether he is more open to signing an extension to a level that the Cubs are willing to offer. It seems a little more likely than in February.
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