As Kris Bryant returns to face Cubs, SF Giants have made a strong impression
CHICAGO — Kris Bryant is getting a kick out of all of this.
Every time the Giants win another ballgame, which is quite often these days, those projections published back in spring training look even worse.
“I just find it funny that the team was projected to win whatever 75 games and it’s like, we have a chance to win 100,” Bryant said. “That just goes to show you that projections and things don’t matter.”
Bryant was a rookie when a Cubs team that had finished under .500 in five consecutive seasons stunned the rest of the National League by finishing 97-65. Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA projection model pegged the Cubs to win 82 games, but they overachieved in large part thanks to Bryant, who was named an All-Star and took home the Rookie of the Year Award with 26 home runs and a 135 OPS+.
By the time the Cubs were swept out of the NLDS by the Mets, Bryant was already familiar with the harsh realities that come with life in the major leagues. The same franchise that selected Bryant No. 2 overall in the 2013 amateur draft manipulated his service time, keeping him in the minor leagues for the first eight games of his 2015 rookie season so that he would remain under team control through 2021 instead of 2020.
The decision hurt a Cubs team that finished three games behind the 100-win Cardinals and a game back of the second-place Pirates, but it would give the franchise the chance to keep a core of Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Báez together for an extra season.
So much for that season.
By the time this year’s July 30 trade deadline passed, Rizzo was a Yankee, Báez was a Met, Bryant was a Giant and the Cubs were suddenly a faceless team bracing for a rebuild.
“I look at the team and it’s kind of a brand new team,” Bryant said.
Cubs fans dreamed of seeing the trio that anchored a 2016 World Series championship club together for years to come, but by the start of this season, the team’s longest-tenured players knew they were on the way out the door. Unlike in San Francisco, where the Giants handed out extensions to Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt early in their careers, Bryant, Rizzo and Báez were all ticketed for free agency at the end of this season.
Bryant admitted he entered this season almost expecting to be traded, so he began considering where he’d like to end up. A red-hot Giants team enjoying the kind of surprising success Bryant’s Cubs experienced back in 2015 emerged as his preferred destination.
“The fans, the city and the park and like I said, I felt like I’m the type of player that would fit in here and the type of player that the Giants typically like to go after,” Bryant said. “That made me excited. Hearing the rumors of the Giants and coming here, I just thought that would be the best-case scenario for me and somewhere I could thrive and be myself.”
During his first week in San Francisco, Bryant said he could envision signing a deal that would keep him with the organization for years to come. The Cubs never got Bryant to commit to an extension, but the Giants appear motivated to make him a foundational piece of their next core.
“I fit in right away,” Bryant said.”I felt like I didn’t have to do anything differently or try to be someone I’m not and all of that is a credit to the staff, the players and the organization for evaluating me and thinking that I’m a player who can fit in here seamlessly.”
As Bryant sat in the dugout at Coors Field this week discussing his upcoming trip “home” to Chicago, he spoke at length about the preparation of the Giants’ coaching staff and his teammates. Bryant singled out the club’s three-game set against the rival Dodgers and the team asking its bullpen to cover the final 23 innings of the series as an example of the calm, confident demeanor that’s permeated the clubhouse.
“Usually you sense some panic,” Bryant said. “It’s like, ‘What are we going to do, we don’t have a pitcher for the game today and we’ve got to start a bullpen guy.’ But I walk through and it’s like, ‘Dom (Leone) you’re starting today.’ I’m panicking and I haven’t been here too long and these coaches are like, ‘Yeah, we’ll roll with it. We’re playing the Dodgers for first place. Oh, whatever.’ Honestly that’s the attitude you do need.”
No detail slips by Bryant, who said he’s looking forward to returning to Wrigley Field so he can give a proper thank you and farewell to the security guards and support staffers whose hard work often goes unnoticed. In San Francisco, he’s pointed out the excellent work of a Giants’ training staff that’s kept older players such as Posey and Crawford healthy enough to enjoy some of the best offensive seasons of their careers.
Bryant was in the clubhouse when the Giants announced a two-year, $32 million extension for Crawford that should give the franchise record holder for games played at shortstop a chance to finish his career in San Francisco. The extension was the second Crawford has signed with his hometown club as he’s one of the rare 10-year major league veterans who has never hit free agency.
The Giants’ open desire to keep their core together provides a contrast to what Bryant experienced in Chicago, where Báez, Bryant and Rizzo were all traded away after extension talks fell through.
“I think you see the fans after he signed the extension how they love him and they want him here,” Bryant said of Crawford’s deal. “Me seeing that as a guy who is brand new here, it shows you’ve provided so much value to this team and we want to keep you and we want to reward you for that. That was super cool to see.”
When Bryant walks into the visiting clubhouse at Wrigley Field on Friday, he’ll do so as a member of a Giants club in the midst of a magical season. Cubs fans will give him a hero’s welcome, but it’ll be a shock to the system for so many who thought things should have played out differently.
Bryant said when he retires, he might sit down and think about all of the obstacles that prevented him from spending his entire career in Chicago. For now, he’s shaking his head for a different reason: Bryant can’t believe he’s on a team that’s this good.
“This last week I found myself sitting at my locker like this is just crazy what’s going on,” Bryant said. “(Alex Wood) going down, then (Johnny) Cueto, bullpen games, concussions and guys being banged up and guys being older. And we’re still finding a way to win ballgames.”
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