Boras, Epstein trade barbs over Kris Bryant
Boras (left) and Theo Epstein (right) disagree over the best way to handle slugger Kris Bryant. (USATSI)
Everyone has an opinion about what the Chicago Cubs should do with young Kris Bryant, and no opinion is louder than that of Scott Boras, his agent. Boras had some unflattering words for the Cubs on Tuesday because of the possibility that Bryant will start the season in Class AAA.
Boras told Fox Sports that he blames Cubs ownership for a dilemma that should not be. Cubs president Theo Epstein responded that Bryant’s future is not anyone’s call but his and his staff:
“Cubs ownership has a choice,” Boras told FOX Sports on Tuesday. “Are they going to present to their market that they are 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.”
Cubs president Theo Epstein countered, “Kris Bryant’s development path has absolutely nothing to do with ownership, period. As with all our baseball decisions, I will determine where Kris begins the 2015 season after consulting with members of our baseball operations staff. Comments from agents, media members and anybody outside our organization will be ignored.”
Terrific troll job by Boras, who has Bryant’s best financial interest in mind — but not necessarily any of the best interests of the Cubs in mind. It also was an apt job by Epstein telling Boras (and everyone else) to get lost.
Besides, it’s absurd to say the Cubs regime isn’t interested in winning, especially following an offseason in which they paid all of that money to Jon Lester and Jason Hammel, and made trades for Dexter Fowler and Miguel Montero. If the Cubs were only interested in maximizing profit, they wouldn’t have done any of that.
It’s also presumptuous to assume that Kris Bryant making the opening-day lineup would put the Cubs in the playoff hunt. For every Jason Heyward opening-day home run in his first game, there’s Mike Trout hitting .220 in his first 40 games. Even if Bryant is all that and a bag of chips from jump street, the Cubs missing him for their first 12 games might be worth about half a win, or maybe less. You can’t even miss the playoffs by a half-game, so what is there to worry about?
It’s true that Bryant is batting .435 with six home runs in 23 plate appearances in Cactus League play. And he’s coming off a monstrous first full season in minor league ball, where he was named player of the year. And he’s listed as a top prospect by every scouting service.
It’s also true that the Cubs would benefit financially by making Bryant wait in the minors for at least two weeks, and even two months, because it would delay free agency and/or arbitration eligibility by a year, respectively. It’s also true that the Cubs are a big-market team, and don’t (or shouldn’t) have to worry about cutting costs like, say, the Kansas City Royals might.
It’s not true that Bryant must be with the Cubs on opening day. Unless you are Scott Boras, and it means free agency in six years instead of seven, or arbitration in two years instead of three.
If it gets to May 1, and Bryant is raking at Class AAA and Mike Olt is batting oh-something while playing third base for the Cubs, we can resume the discussion.
It’s fun love triangle, though — Scott, Theo and Kris.
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