On Tuesday afternoon, baseball super-agent Scott Boras and Chicago Cubs president Theo Epstein squared off in a war of words over young star Kris Bryant, who is currently tearing the cover off the ball in Cactus League play and is looking to make the jump to the big leagues this season.
On one side, Boras argues that the Cubs are trying to game the system by not including Bryant on their MLB roster to begin the season. Their reason for doing so is to delay starting Bryant’s MLB service clock, meaning that the youngster would remain under team control for an additional season if he isn’t on the roster before April 17.
On the other side, the Cubs are arguing that they are handling Bryant’s development and progression according to plan, and that they aren’t listening to outside noise on the matter.
On Wednesday, Bryant himself weighed in on the matter.
“First off, the ownership here has been great to me – drafted me second overall, treated me with nothing but first class,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I’ve had a great time. But at the same time, I’m hearing from my teammates that they want me up and I’m doing well. That’s kind of sending mixed messages to me.”
Bryant is leading all of baseball in spring training home runs, having clubbed six of them so far this year, and he also has two multi-home run games to his credit during the season. His progress is bringing increased scrutiny on the Cubs as they decide what to do with the young star, weighing the options of starting him in the big leagues vs. saving him for later in the year so that they can get an extra year before he’s able to test the free agent market.
“Cubs ownwership has a choice,” Boras told Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal on Tuesday. “Are they going to present to their market that they’re trying to win? Tom Ricketts said they were all about winning. When someone says it’s the system, no, it’s a choice – the choice of winning.”
Local
In firing back at Boras, Epstein made it perfectly clear where his priorities stand as the Cubs make their decision.
“I will determine where Kris begins the 2015 season after consulting with members of our baseball operations staff,” he said. “Comments from agents, media members, and anybody outside our organization will be ignored.”
If one were basing promotion strictly on performance, it would be hard to argue with Bryant’s results. He clubbed 43 home runs in the minor leagues last year, with stops at double-A West Tennessee and triple-A Iowa, and he drove in 110 RBI. With his six home runs in Cactus League play this year, and with the Cubs looking to compete for their first playoff berth since 2008, there are plenty arguing that Bryant should be brought up to the majors immediately.
On the flip side, the Cubs’ argument is predicated around a simple notion: would they rather have two more weeks of Bryant this season (thereby getting him started on the adjustment to big league pitching sooner rather than later), or would they rather get an extra year of service from him during the prime of his career at a price they wouldn’t have to pay on the free agent market?
It’s a million dollar question (literally), and it’s one that the Cubs are still debating as the spring season wears on.
