How Kris Bryant’s Cubs-to-Giants emotional journey includes Trevor Story

As Kris Bryant reflected back upon the moments where he had been traded at the Major League Baseball trade deadline from the Chicago Cubs to the San Francisco Giants, he mentioned the frustrated feelings he had for Trevor Story knowing the All-Star shortstop wasn’t going to be traded away from the Colorado Rockies.

In a Sports Illustrated article that was published on Friday, Bryant details the journey from the Cubs to the Giants that included some emotional moments as the 2021 MLB trade deadline approached. Bryant had seen the Cubs send players such as Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, and Craig Kimbrel to other teams, yet he was still a member of the Cubs as the trade deadline clock ticked down.

Chicago, however, would pull the trigger on a trade deadline deal, sending Bryant to the West Coast where he has made an impact for the Giants. Since arriving in San Francisco, the 29-year-old Bryant has slashed .262/.344/.444 with an OPS+ of 113 in 212 plate appearances.

Here’s where Kris Bryant started to think about Trevor Story after being traded from the Chicago Cubs to the San Francisco Giants

While Bryant admits in the article that he “got bitter” thinking about having to stay put in Chicago past the trade deadline, his thoughts turned to Story once the trade deadline had passed, knowing Story was destined to be with the Colorado Rockies for the rest of the 2021 campaign.

From the article…

"He would watch as Rockies shortstop Trevor Story, the most obvious trade chip on the market, remained with his moribund team and pulled himself from the lineup in frustration. “Man, I feel for him,” Bryant says."

Story was “the most obvious trade chip on the market” because his contract was expiring at the end of the season and the Rockies and Story had had no discussions about any kind of extension. Colorado, however, chose to keep Story with the prevailing thought that, at worst, a qualifying offer would be extended to him at the end of the season and the Rockies could get a draft pick from the team that chose to sign him.

For his part, Story told The Denver Post shortly after the deadline passed, “I’m confused and I don’t have really anything good to say about the situation and how it unfolded.” As Bryant mentioned, Story did pull himself from the Colorado lineup that night after the deadline. Story did, however, play out the rest of the campaign with the Rockies, finishing with more than 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in a season for the third time in his six-year career.

Rockies fans were somewhat stunned when Story was still with the team after the trade deadline. Apparently so were some of Story’s MLB colleagues.