Kuzul

Kris Bryant, arguably the best prospect in baseball and inarguably the crusher of more home runs than any other player this spring training, will start the 2015 season in the minor league. But don’t blame the Chicago Cubs—blame Major League Baseball.

After all, it’s the rules that made this decision entirely inevitable and anything but surprising.

The Cubs announced Monday they had sent Bryant to minor league camp despite his ridiculous .425/.477/1.175 triple-slash line and, count ’em, nine homers.

Bryant could have batted 1.000 and hit a home run every time up, and still, the 23-year-old righty slugger would have begun the regular season in Iowa instead of Chicago. And while it might seem like this makes no sense at all, it actually is a perfectly sound and logical call for the Cubs.

You see, a player’s service-time clock begins ticking as soon as he makes his MLB debut, and once a player accrues six years’ worth of action—or 6.000 in years and days—he becomes a free agent. But if a player is even a few days shy of that mark, it allows the club to pick up what essentially is an “extra” season of team control.

For the Cubs, the decision boils down to this: Miss out on two weeks of Bryant in April 2015…or miss out on Bryant for the entire 2021 season.

In other words, this question of whether Bryant should begin the year in the bigs really isn’t a question at all, given the importance of Bryant, the No. 2 overall draft pick in 2013, to the rebuilding Cubs organization—and given the construction of the current collective bargaining agreement, which allows this path. 

No matter what Bryant’s agent Scott Boras argues:

That’s because everybody—the front-office executives, managers, coaches, players and media—knows that this is a no-brainer for the Cubs.

“Everybody is conscious of it,” New York Yankees lefty reliever Andrew Miller said, via Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune. “Hey, we have a chance to make a lot of money in this game, but the rules are the rules. If that works in the Cubs favor, and the Cubs are a better team for that, they’re entitled to (use the rule to their favor). We negotiated that. It’s the reality of what our collective bargaining agreement says.”

Note: This statement is coming from a player.

But this decision is also a bad one for all parties involved.

Bryant will have to wait an extra year to reach free agency and score his first massive contract (unless he signs a long-term extension first). The Cubs could be second-guessed for not putting their best 25 players on the roster, particularly if they fall short of the playoffs by a game or three. The fans won’t get to see a potential superstar in the making at the outset of the season, when attention and attendance are often at their peak.

And we’ll all have to put up with more complaints and criticism from Boras, who admittedly isn’t wrong, either.

Meanwhile, Cubs president Theo Epstein has a point in claiming that Bryant needs more time to marinate in the minors, even though he’s undeniably one of the most talented players in the organization.

“I think it’s very rare that teams keep their 25 most talented players [out of spring training],” Epstein said during an on-air interview from a recent ESPN broadcast. “I like to call guys up for their major league debut in the middle of the season, when they’re in the flow of the game, the grind of the season and they’re comfortable.”

There’s some merit to that sentiment, but it’s also little more than lip service under these circumstances.

And it leads to an uncomfortable situation for everyone, not to mention awkwardly phrased quotes like this one from Cubs manager Joe Maddon, per ESPN.com news services: “[Bryant is] a brilliant talent. I’m not going to sit here and say things that are disingenuous. This guy is good. He’s going to be really good.”

Or the fact that even new MLB commissioner Rob Manfred was asked to weigh in on this controversy.

“Look, I don’t think the Cubs’ decision on what’s going to happen to Kris Bryant is really any of Mr. Boras’ business,” Manfred said, per Sullivan. “The club is in the best position, and the Cubs are in the best position, to decide what’s going to make them the most competitive over the longest period of time.”

All of the above taken into consideration, Bryant is not a completely and utterly finished product, even though some have already seemingly begun to design his Hall of Fame plaque.

His defense remains a work in progress, especially since he’s struggled with his throwing at third base at times this spring and has begun seeing action in the outfield, too. Bryant also has a propensity to swing and miss often, having struck out 27 percent of the time last season and 14 times in 44 exhibition plate appearances.

But Bryant has also done just about everything a young player can do in the minors, having hit .325/.438/.661 with a best-in-baseball 43 home runs between Double- and Triple-A in his first full pro season last year.

Bryant is primed to test himself in the majors. He’s ready for his big-league closeup. Now all we need is for MLB to find a way to solve this problem with the next collective bargaining agreement. That way, when the next Kris Bryant surfaces, the best course of action will involve having him on the field as long—and as soon—as possible.

“[Bryant’s strong spring performance] demonstrated clearly to everybody that he’s really close to being not just in the big leagues but to playing an important role on the team,” Epstein said, according to Carrie Muskat of MLB.com. “His camp mattered. We’re more likely to get him sooner than later with how he’s playing and how close he showed [he is].”

Just not soon enough, thanks to MLB’s silly #ServiceTimeShenanigans.

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