Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant has lost a grievance he filed against the team in which he sought an extra year of service time, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.
Bryant was called up by the Cubs on April 17, 2015, ending his season with 171 days of service time. Had he been called up a day earlier, he would have gotten the full year.
As a result, Bryant will be a free agent in 2021 instead of 2020.
This obviously has rather significant ramifications as far as Bryant's value is concerned, as teams can now feel somewhat safe trading for Bryant knowing that he can't simply walk next offseason.
While Chicago doesn't seem to be actively shopping Bryant, there were rumors that the Cubs could potentially trade the 2016 NL MVP at some point in the near future.
The good news for Chicago is that a source from Bryant's camp says that he “harbors no ill will whatsoever” and that he is “focused on his workouts and preseason prep,” per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Bryant's willingness to accept the situation is not all that surprising, as the arbitrator's decision to rule in favor of the Cubs was widely expected.
The 28-year-old is coming off a 2019 campaign in which he slashed .282/.382/.521 with 31 home runs and 77 RBI over 634 plate appearances, en route to his third All-Star appearance.
Bryant won Rookie of the Year honors during his first season in 2015, slashing .275/.369/.488 with 26 long balls and 99 RBI across 650 trips to the dish. He followed that up by slashing .292/.385/.554 with 39 dingers and 102 RBI through 699 plate appearances during his MVP campaign in 2016, helping lead Chicago to a World Series title.
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