Three of the Chicago Cubs UBER-Prospects, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez and Addison Russell, will begin the 2015 season in the minor leagues.
(We’ve covered the current statuses of all four of these prospects in more detail: Bryant here, Russell here, Soler here and Baez here)
Kris Bryant starting the year in the minors is for the best; and it’s expected. This link explains that in detail. Yes Bryant had 13 hits, 9 HRs, 15 RBI and a batting average of .425 this spring, but it just comes down to the Cubs are trading roughly 12 days of service of a 23 year old rookie, for a year of control of a 30 year old slugger potentially in his prime.
ESPN MLB analysts Curt Schilling and John Kruk (Sunday Night Baseball) participated in ESPN’s MLB Opening Night/Opening Day media conference call earlier today. ESPN will nationally televise the Cubs season opener, at home versus the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday, April 5, at 7 p.m. CST.
Curt Schilling on the Cubs decision to not promote Kris Bryant:
“I’ve seen enough of Kris Bryant from a pitcher’s perspective that in my opinion he’s ready. I get why they’re doing what they’re doing. That’s what you do; if you’re Theo Epstein you use the rules and you look as forward as you can, and he’s a forward-thinking guy. He’s looking at 2021.”
“My perspective on that is as a player. As a player, 2015 is the only season I care about, and if the 25 guys headed north aren’t the best 25, then I’m probably going to have a meeting with someone and say something about that because that’s one of those situations where as a player, you know they expect you to give everything you have to win, which is fine, but I expect the same thing from my front office, and so I need to find out if we’re truly supposed to contend this year, which I think they believe they can, what are you telling us by the fact that you’re not bringing this kid with us.”
“I think he’s ready.”
John Kruk had a different take on the Kris Bryant situation.
“The thing with Kris Bryant, it’s a numbers thing. They want to keep him for that extra year, and his agent wants him to get to the Big Leagues as quickly as possible, which all agents wish that for their clients, but lose that year of free agency by starting him in Chicago to start the season. I think as soon as Bryant is eligible, I think he comes up.”
“Let’s see how he does in the Minor Leagues. I know he has nothing to prove. He had an unbelievable year last year, but sometimes I think even though this kid has a chance to be great, you never really know until he does it.”
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital. You can read Banks’ feature stories and op-eds in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and hear his regular guest spots on numerous sports talk radio stations all across the country.
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