The Washington Nationals had to choose this offseason between keeping starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg, the most valuable player of their World Series win over the Astros, or third baseman Anthony Rendon, who finished third in National League MVP voting.
Both became free agents when Strasburg exercised an opt-out clause in his contract, putting general manager Mike Rizzo in a difficult position. In the end, Rizzo chose Strasburg, giving the right-hander a seven-year, $245 million extension and watching Rendon sign the same deal with the Angels.
That’s a problem the Cubs could face with two of their biggest stars, Javier Baez and Kris Bryant Both are scheduled to be free agents after 2021, though Bryant can get his freedom in November if he wins a grievance against the Cubs for alleged service-time manipulation.
Like Rizzo, Theo Epstein can’t have his cake and eat it too, so the Cubs president probably will have to choose one to be a Cub for life.
No one said life is fair.
Baez is the obvious choice to stay — if the Cubs can extend him — which is why he hasn’t been mentioned in trade rumors while Bryant has gone through the ringer since the end of last season.
“It’s hard because I went through it,” Baez said Friday at the Cubs Convention of the Bryant rumors. “And if a player like Kris Bryant is traded … like (Anthony Rizzo) says, he’s one of the best players out there. He was MVP a few years ago, and it’s going to be a whole different team without him.
“We’ll see what happens. We’ll see if that happens, who’s coming, who’s not. Hopefully we keep Kris here his entire career. I don’t really know what’s going to happen, so I can’t say anything about it. … If that happens, I don’t know what is going to be the reaction of the fans and of the players.”
Bryant didn’t meet with the media Friday after coming down with the flu, which led to some predictable conspiracy theories on Twitter. His wife, Jessica, quickly answered them in a sarcastic tweet: “Because it makes so much sense to fly all the way to Chicago to fake the flu. Not to mention leaving his pregnant wife who also has the flu at home because he truly loves being at the convention every year. But yep totally faking it,” she wrote.
Of course no one would fly to Chicago to sit in his hotel room and enjoy the snow outside. Still, some of Bryant’s teammates enjoyed keeping the controversy alive.
“Do you really think he’s sick?” one player asked with a laugh.
“Sick of us,” was one reply.
“Do you blame him?” he said.
While amateur detectives online and at the convention investigated the Bryant mystery, Baez was in good spirits and ready to start the season.
The Cubs have spoken to Baez about an extension, and he just signed a one-year, $10 million deal to avoid arbitration. But he said he’s just thinking about taking the Cubs to the playoffs.
“If it happens, I’ll be grateful to be a Cub for my entire career,” Baez said. “If not, I’m obviously happy with everything that happened here. … When the right deal comes, we’ll be ready for it.”
Baez said he hopes something will happen before the season but added: “If not, there is no pressure. I’ve just got to play good.”
If not for a broken left thumb Baez suffered in September, the Cubs might not be in this predicament. They fell apart down the stretch without Baez, blowing a probable wild-card spot, leading to Epstein’s threats of a “reckoning.”
While there have been no big moves yet, the focus on Bryant’s uncertain future has been nonstop.
“Anthony (Rizzo) said it well the other day,” Epstein said Friday. “The business is as cutthroat as it has ever been, and he’s right. … From the players’ side, there is a lot of money on the line, too, and they can set their families up forever. And they should be looking out for their own rights.
“If they think they can get more in free agency than an extension, by all means, go get it. But that comes with some uncertainty as well.”
For now, the Cubs have to look toward the season ahead no matter who is — or isn’t — on the team. Baez repeated his mantra from last year, saying the Cubs have to stop paying so much attention to other clubs and just worry about themselves.
“You’re not being you,” he said. “We’ve got to do us and just have fun out there.”
No one has more fun on the field than Baez, who said after Joe Maddon’s exit in September that he appreciated the manager for allowing him to be himself and play with his signature showmanship.
Maddon took heat at times when Baez made mistakes, such as watching a would-be home run fall short and not taking the extra base. But Maddon never resorted to sitting or punishing Baez, knowing the shortstop’s importance to the lineup.
Will Baez’s former teammate and new manager, David Ross, let Javy be Javy?
“I think he will let everybody be themselves,” Baez said. “This is a team that when Joe came, everything changed. We got what we wanted: to bring a championship to Chicago. That’s our goal again.”
Ross is old-school. But he’s modern enough to know that many younger players approach the game differently than he did.
Asked his opinion on players pimping home runs, Ross’s response was to stay tuned.
“I’ll have my expectations, and you’ll see how I deal with controversy and those type of things and moments when I have to,” Ross said. “I don’t think that will be something I let slide too often.”
No matter how things shake out in the final weeks before pitchers and catchers report, it’s no doubt going to be an interesting season for the 2020 Cubs.
Baez will make sure of that.
