Theo Epstein and the Chicago Cubs have made their final decision on their future star Kris Bryant. The minor league outfielder will not be joining the team when it heads to Chicago for the start of the regular season, much to the dismay of the players’ union and his agent.
Epstein has been trading barbs with Bryant’s agent Scott Boras over the player’s future for weeks now. The criticism of the Cubs’ decision is based on the fact that just by waiting a few more weeks before calling Bryant up to the majors, it can delay his eligibility for free agency for another year until 2021.
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“It’s always difficult to send young players down because it is news they don’t want to hear, ” Cubs president Theo Epstein said. “We entered camp with the presumptive move of sending him to Triple-A, and it is always the presumptive move for us with young players who haven’t played in the big leagues yet. You see how camp develops and how the roster shapes up to see if there is grounds for an exception to the rule.”
Scot Boras is, of course, not pleased. He has a financial incentive to want to see his client promoted to the big leagues as soon as possible. It not only means a considerable raise in salary for Bryant, but also less time until he becomes qualified for free agency. Then Boras can cash in on a negotiated long term contract wherever Bryant goes.
Boras released a statement saying, “MLB is not the MLB without the best players. Kris excelled at every level and earned the right of entry. The CBA is at the apogee of wrongs incentivizing clubs to create a product less than best. Bryant’s situation is the badge for change to the CBA player service structure.”
The MLB Players Association is also not happy with the decision. For some reason it believes that the union should have a say in such major decisions made by teams. It thinks that the Cubs put financial considerations ahead of what is best for both the team and Bryant’s career.
It released a statement saying, “Today is a bad day for baseball. We all know that if Kris Bryant were a combination of the greatest players to play our great game, and perhaps he will be before it’s all said and done, the Cubs still would have made the decision they made today. This decision, and other similar decisions made by clubs will be addressed in litigation, bargaining or both.”
