Bryant wants to be heard now
Cubs infielder ready to push for change in CBA
MESA, Ariz. – Kris Bryant is four seasons from a free agent payday, years removed from the action — or inaction — that occurred this winter, when the market was depressed for superstars and role players alike.
Yet the Chicago Cubs superstar and 2016 National League MVP felt a change within him as he grasped the ramifications of a system that’s already worked against his interests.
Bryant is eligible for free agency after the 2022 season. That’s one year after the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association.
Bryant says he expects significant changes in the next round of negotiations and insists on lending his voice to the fight.
“I do see some big changes in the next CBA — stuff that we’ll have to fight for,” Bryant told USA TODAY on Wednesday. “I do know that I’d love to be more involved, because a couple years ago, I’m just coming up and trying to get a hold on things.
“But this offseason, seeing how things really do work, I definitely want to have more of a voice. Any time our players association gets out here and wants to talk, I want to be there, I want to learn, I want to engage, just to express our side of things and what we’d like to fight for.”
Bryant, 26, is not a typical major leaguer. He was the second overall pick in the 2013 draft, an All-Star and the Rookie of the Year in 2015 and an MVP and World Series champion by 2016. The third baseman is already among the game’s most marketable stars. With a lifetime OPS of .946 and an easygoing persona that connects him with fans of all ages, Bryant figures to command an enormous contract when his time comes.
Yet Bryant has seen firsthand how a compensation structure that worked relatively well for decades has turned against him and his peers. Bryant was paid $652,000 for his MVP season, during which he hit 39 home runs and produced an NL-best 7.7 Wins Above Replacement.
For years, players accepted that imbalance; in exchange for clubs reserving the right to unilaterally set their salaries for three seasons, they reached free agency after six, often signing lucrative deals that included seasons where perhaps the player was overpaid relative to his production.
Now, however, players are experiencing a form of double jeopardy, with their earning power pinched on the front and the back of their careers.
And Bryant’s career didn’t even begin until he bore the brunt of a business decision. A shoo-in to win the third-base job in 2015, the Cubs delayed his debut by eight games to harvest an additional year of service.
Bryant knew the business of baseball well enough to know it was strictly business and that many players — from Evan Longoria to George Springer to Mike Trout — had similar experiences.
Yet seeing how older players have been treated this winter, and perhaps knowing he’ll be turning 30 when he hits the market, brought up bad feelings from the past.
“That feels so long ago, it’s crazy now,” Bryant says. “But this offseason has kind of brought (those feelings) out a bit more. I said at the time (service time suppression) should probably be addressed in the next CBA, but who knows if it will.
“The best players should be on the field. That’s always been my opinion. That stuff ’s way in the past, and we moved on from it, but I did experience it.”
Several of Bryant’s former teammates remain at home, and he signals as much empathy for journeyman outfielder Jon Jay — who might not receive a guaranteed deal in favor of younger, cheaper players — as he does former staff ace Jake Arrieta, who has not yet seen a nine-figure asking price to his liking.
Bryant says he “absolutely” does not believe salaries are rising in lockstep with revenue, despite Commissioner Rob Manfred’s comments to the contrary. He also echoes the thought of his agent, Scott Boras, and others who believe the entire winter was bad for baseball.
“When you look at the brand of Major League Baseball — it’s the best brand there is,” he says. “Not to take away from any leagues around the world, but the best players play here. And to not see the best players sign, who are still at home, I think that’s a little chink in our armor.
“I definitely think, this offseason, just the brand in general of Major League Baseball, took a step back.”
Now, Bryant wants to do something about it. He, along with Bryce Harper, Trout, Francisco Lindor, Corey Seager and perhaps Cody Bellinger are among the superstars ushering in a nearly unprecedented youth movement in the game.
Seager and Bellinger, the young Los Angeles Dodgers All-Stars, both expressed concern with this year’s market. But with free agency four and six years away, respectively, they didn’t sense any urgency.
“I don’t know a damn thing about the free agent market,” said Bellinger, 22, who hit 38 home runs in 132 games in winning NL Rookie honors in 2017. “I just kind of watch.
“Everyone wants to get paid as soon as possible. But that’s why we have agents.”
Bryant was once in his shoes. Now, however, his future is starting to come into focus — and he wants to make sure he has some control over it — along with the fortunes of young superstars who might follow his path.
“It’d be weird if someone came into the league making $10 million when they’re a rookie,” says Bryant, who will make $10.85 million in his first of four arbitration-eligible seasons. “But I do think that’s something that should be and will be addressed in the next CBA — getting paid more at the front.
“It is kind of an imbalance right now.”