Deal or no deal?
Should the Cubs trade Bryant or Baez or potentially sacrifice the future?
cons of trading Bryant or Baez and the outlook if they decide to keep both players.
Trade Bryant
Pros: Injuries over the last two seasons have prevented Bryant, 27, from matching his 2016 National League Most Valuable Player season, when he batted .292 with 39 home runs and 102 RBIs. Resigning Nicholas Castellanos would somewhat offset the loss of Bryant’s bat.
Cons: Bryant is one of the more agile players on a roster that lacks athletes. The Cubs’ defense at third base dropped off considerably when he wasn’t in the lineup. Bryant rebounded from a sore left shoulder in 2018 that hampered his power to hit 35 homers this year, and he provides Anthony Rizzo with runproducing opportunities. There are no full-time replacements in house unless the Cubs give Ian Happ a shot.
The Cubs likely will take another shot at signing Bryant, who was asked in the spring how the recordsetting signings of Bryce Harper and Mike Trout might affect him. A report last fall that said Bryant was offered (and turned down) a $200 million contract was false, but the landscape for All-Stars has since changed.
Any team close to acquiring Bryant would closely examine his medical reports, although Bryant said his right knee will heal soon without a medical procedure.
Trade Baez
Pros: The 26-year-old Baez’s dazzling defense, prolific power, fearless approach and national popularity (fourth in the majors in jersey sales) would command a windfall of young talent. “He’s capable of carrying a club,” one scout said. “He’s the guy you pay to see. If he’s available, every team should ask about him.”
Cons: “If Baez is traded, that means Nico Hoerner is your shortstop,” the scout said. Hoerner showed a dependable glove during his three weeks filling in for Baez in September, but his long throws tended to fade. The Cubs often lack a spark when Baez isn’t in the lineup.
At the end of the season, Baez expressed his preference to stay with the Cubs and said Joe Maddon’s successor as manager wouldn’t change him.
“Because like (Joe) told me, I already made myself, and that’s something that no one can change now,“Baez said. “That’s why I’m so thankful to Joe.”
Keep both
That wouldn’t hurt the Cubs’ chances of returning to the playoffs in 2020, but they likely would need to move some arbitrationeligible players and/or a veteran with substantial money left on his contract. They have close to $130 million earmarked for 10 players for 2020, including pitcher Jose Quintana, who has a $10.5 million team option.
“Next year is a priority,” Epstein said.
“We have to balance it with the future, and probably that’s more important now than it was a year ago because we’re now two years away from a lot of our best players reaching the end of their period of club control.”
Epstein is aware of the dangers of sticking with veterans through the end of their club control and gaining only compensatory draft picks and a long, “painful” rebuild afterward.
“And that’s not something we’re interested in,” Epstein said. “We don’t want to put our fans through that long-term process.”