Chicago Cubs: Would team consider trading Kris Bryant in offseason?

A once feared power hitter for the Chicago Cubs, Kris Bryant’s production just hasn’t been there this year. Would the team trade him in the offseason?

Kris Bryant was a formidable power hitter in the heart of the Chicago Cubs batting order during his rookie season in 2015 and subsequent MVP season in 2016. However, since then his numbers, especially RBI’s have dipped each season. Now while I do realize his numbers in 2018 took a hit because he dealt with a shoulder injury that caused him to miss a good chunk of the season.

He looked like he was “back” on Opening Day of this season, cranking a two-run shot against the Texas Rangers but then went without a home run until the end of April. His numbers at first glance look good on paper as the former MVP is slashing 0.291/0.391/0.526 with 22 home runs and 55 RBI’s.

The problem is that he’s been awful in high leverage situations this season. Combined with his batting average of 0.208 in such situations and the fact that he’s hitting groundballs for a career-high (38.4 percent) with a combined soft/medium contact rate (64.8 percent), Bryant hasn’t been the heart of the order guy that he used to be.

It might do him some good to be moved down in the order, much like Kyle Schwarber was removed from the leadoff spot. Schwarber in the leadoff position, batted just 0.229 but has done well batting in thr 6th or 8th spots in the order (0.333 and 0.366, respectively). A similar move might be good for Bryant.

However, with Bryant reportedly turning down the Cubs multi-year extension worth around $200 million and Scott Boras’ (agent) reputation, Bryant might find himself as the odd man odd when he becomes an unrestricted free agent after the 2021 season. The Cubs have several players up for contract extensions after that season in Anthony Rizzo, Javier Bez, and Kyle Schwarber as well.

They will have some interesting decisions to make but Bryant could potentially price himself out of Chicago, which then begs the question if the Cubs should explore a trade this offseason that could net quite the haul of prospects. The team’s farm system is one of the worst in baseball and understandably so, after all of their talent has either graduated to the big leagues or been traded away for other assets.

The 2019 offseason could see some major changes anyways with the Cubs underperforming yet again, especially with their inexplicable road woes. Joe Maddon is in the final year of his contract and there are rumors that he and Theo Epstein do not get along. Epstein banked on the core of this team bouncing back from a letdown finish in the 2018 season, but it just has not panned out.

While I mentioned that he’s up for an extension after the 2021 season, the Cubs could move on from Kyle Schwarber after this season with the potential of not tendering a contract to Albert Almora or Addison Russell in the offseason as well.

The Cubs put it all together in the 2016 season and finally ended the World Series drought but it might be time for a major shakeup in the offseason in which we could see Bryant being traded. I would love for him to spend his entire career with the Cubs but I just don’t know how they re-sign him given how difficult Scott Boras has been with his clients to get big paydays.