The Cubs have avoided arbitration with third baseman Kris Bryant, catcher Willson Contreras and right-hander Zach Davies, per reports from Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago and Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com. Bryant settled for $19.5MM, while Contreras will make $6.65MM and Davies will earn $8.63MM.
While the salaries of Bryant and Contreras for 2021 are now known, it’s unclear whether either will actually rake in that money as members of the Cubs. They have been stalwarts for the club throughout their careers, but with the Cubs in retooling mode this winter, both players have frequented trade rumors. Of course, this doesn’t look like the optimal time to move Bryant, a former NL MVP who put up uncharacteristically bad numbers in 2020. The Boras Corporation client only has a year of control left, though, so the Cubs may try to get what they can for him before the season starts.
The Cubs would have much less difficulty landing solid value for Contreras, who continued his run as a top-tier catcher last season. Not only is he a bargain relative to his production, but Contreras has another year of arbitration eligibility remaining.
The 27-year-old Davies is new to the Cubs, having joined them as part of their return from the Padres last month for righty Yu Darvish. Davies, who enjoyed a career year in 2020, will be eligible for free agency next offseason.
Interesting. Ian Happ must not like his offer. He wouldn’t sign his renewal a while ago, too.
It’s probably still in negotiations trying to find the right in between numbers. If he can keep doing what he has been, he’s gonna be good for a very long time.
What likelihood do you think Bryant and Contreras play for the Cubs this year? I’d say 50 / 50 with Bryant but 60 / 40 in favor of Contreras playing for someone else. But the return better be massive. A top-tier catcher at $6.65 million is a steal!!
I think KB is gone 80/20. It would be stupid to trade their only ML catcher. There’s no reason to do it.
He’s about to leave anyway is the reason to do it
Why would Contreras leave? He wants to spend his entire career with the cubs. They have no ML catchers. Signing two backup catchers for 1mil total is just dumb. Especially with Contreras being one of the best catchers on both sides of the ball.
Money is the reason why he would leave. One of the Cubs’ best prospects is a catcher anyway.
They have plenty of money to extend him in 2 years or next year for that matter. Amaya will now be backup to Contreras. There’s no logical reason for him to leave. He’s probbaly still a year away. 2022.
I love Willson Contreras, but trading him could land serious impact pitching and another impact offensive player to go with what they have in the system. Trading Darvish signals to me that Hoyer and Co. think their competitive window (for a World Series) has passed.
Other than Kyle Hendricks, Contreras is the most valuable player in the organization. Plus, they could resign him in two years when the Cubbies are more likely to compete for a World Series. That’s what the Dodgers did with Alex Wood. That’s what the Yankees did with Aroldis Chapman.
Word is the Marlins are interested. How promising would it be to have Meyer, Fulton, Misner, Connor Scott (or other players) in the Cubs system?!?! That Marlins Minor League system is loaded. As much as I hate to contemplate trading Contreras and Bryant, I think the Cubs competitive window has passed.
I think the Cubs will pretty much go with what they got with some low-cost additions as spring training nears. If they stumble out of the gate, but get a bounce back from one of their core in a contract year, I’d expect that player to get traded first.
If they have so much money then the smart play would be to trade him for a trove of prospects then bring him back in FA (think what the Yankees did with Aroldis Chapman)
Realistically who is gonna offer a massive return for Contreras? Mets are out, Angels are out, who else is in dire need of a catcher and is willing to give up good prospects for Contreras??? Realmuto is still a free agent and could be had without giving up talent. Not to mention Contrera’s if not traded this season will only be a one year rental and have another salary raise next year.
Exactly. The Yankees with Chapman and the Dodgers did that with Alex Wood.
With a trade of Willson Contreras you have the opportunity to bring back impact, controllable, young pitching, which the Cubs need a lot more of. The Cubs can trade Contreras and still win the NL Central if Bryant, Baez, and Rizzo have bounce-back years. If they trade Bryant and Contreras, then they’re just throwing in the towel on 2021.
I don’t think the Angels are out. Stassi? Really? It seems the Marlins are in. I could see the Rays being in (especially if the Cubs got creative, i.e. paying Contreras salary or taking back Kiermaier).
Realistically, there are not many catchers better than Contreras in MLB, but the Cubs do not have a great Minor League system. I agree with “Jim the goat” that they could get a ton of top-notch prospects and resign him in two years.
Realmuto is going to cost three times what Contreras is getting this year. Contreras also has two years of control for an acquiring team, super valuable!!
Soon as KB breathes on a baseball diamond they will try to flip him. They just need to prove there’s anything in the tank and he’s gone
Teams that don’t want to invest $100m in a catcher.
Maybe the FO is is looking to extend him? Nah… Nevermind.
How KB pulls off $19.5m is amazing. I know it avoided arbitration, but he best have a nice bounce back to make that not look like a huge overpay….
How is it amazing? You do know how the arbitration process works, right?
You were one of my favorite players when I was a kid.
You can’t take any more than a 20% pay cut from the previous year. He made $18.6 mil last year (before they prorated contracts and all the other crap affected by COVID last season), but there hasn’t been many cases of players actually accepting the pay cut. Doesn’t matter because he’s probably heading out the door anyways.
Already looks like a huge overpay.
Should have embarrassed KB by going through the process and looking at his 2019 stats!
When is the deadline where a player who is traded can no longer be offered a QO by his new team? Is it any time before the season actually starts? After that date (whenever that is) his trade value goes down, so worth noting.
Day the regular season starts
The draft pick the Cubs get from Bryant declining a Qualifying Offer at the end of the season will be of higher value than what they can get back via trade. Any trade will be nothing but a pure salary dump.
Agreed. I don’t see Bryant being traded unless it’s a package deal. Otherwise Bryant would have already been traded by now.
lmaoo you are wayyy overvaluing a borderline 3rd round draft pick and wayyy undervaluing the ability to save $19.5 million dollars. Cubs would be downright stupid to keep Bryant. He could easily tank this season like he did in 2020 and Cubs receive absolutely zero and will end up stuck paying the 19.5 million either way. He could also have a not soo great season & accept a qualifying offer hoping to regain value and Cubs would be stuck paying 37 million over 2 years, prolong the process and still only receive a half ass 3rd rounder who may or may not make the Majors. They are better off getting what they can now and ridding themselves of close to 20 million, especially if they do not see themselves competing in 2021.
He averaged nearly 5 war from 2015-2019 and has a career ops+ 134. He seems like a reasonable gamble for a bounce back year wether they keep him or trade him.
20 million is not a reasonable gamble by any means which is why Bryant is still in chicago. Do you really think that if he was as sure fire thing as you insinuate he wouldn’t have been traded for something of value by now? On the contrary, Kris is an extremely expensive player who was injured in 2018, was the worst defensive 3rd baseman in the NL in 2019, and who was injured in 2020 and missed time due to a finger injury, a wrist injury, an elbow injury, back pain, a gastrointestinal issue, and most recently an oblique injury. His contract on its own would literally put about 25 teams out of contention for his services.
Bryant was not the worst defensive 3rd baseman in the NL… That honor sir belonged to Colin Moran and his -21 DRS in less than 900 innings.
Needless to say however Bryant was really bad defensively in 2019 and honestly, he’s never been a great defender at third. 2019, however, he should have never been in the infield. He was coming off a major shoulder injury and should have moved to the outfield to limit any further damage on his shoulder and limit the wear and tear.
I felt, in 2019, they needed to have KB play RF and move Heyward to CF, I understanding having Almora and wanting to give him more of a look but you have to protect your superstar more than what the Cubs did that year (and in 2018 when he came back from his shoulder injury).
Shoulders take such a long time to heal properly, I felt he should have sat out the remainder of 2018 but athletes will do what athletes do…
But is that pick worth $19.5M? Half of me wonders why they bothered to tender him a contract at all.
I hope Kris Bryant has another MVP year.