Four cameras staked out a spot in entrance of Kris Bryant’s locker within the Colorado Rockies clubhouse, a sight that was laborious for him to overlook as he approached after pregame batting observe.
The Chicago Cubs’ four-game collection towards the Rockies isn’t Bryant’s first time dealing with his former group with which he earned each notable private and group accolade a big-leaguer can obtain. No, that got here in early August after Bryant was despatched to the San Francisco Giants as a part of one-third of the Cubs’ opening-day roster being traded on the deadline.
“I enjoyed my time in Chicago, but I don’t know if it warrants a press conference every time I play them,” a smiling Bryant mentioned earlier than Thursday’s collection opener at Coors Field.
As Bryant embarks on the subsequent chapter of his profession in Colorado, he isn’t forgetting his previous.
“I don’t know if that chapter will ever close until I’m done playing baseball because I rely on a lot of what I went through there to make me who I am now and help me in the future with the guys here,” Bryant mentioned. “So I’m not ever going to close that chapter because I had a lot of fun there.”
The Rockies in March gave Bryant a seven-year, $182 million contract with a no-trade clause. Testing free company yielded Bryant the massive deal he confirmed he was price throughout his seven seasons with the Cubs.
“It doesn’t feel like I thought it would feel, like, I’m still like I was before I got traded or signed a contract, mentally or just competition-wise,” Bryant mentioned. “But I can fall back on the fact that I know where I’m going to be and I don’t have to hear any rumors or any of that. So there’s a peace in that.”
Bryant was diplomatic when he spoke within the guests’ dugout at Wrigley Field in September about whether or not an offseason reunion with the Cubs was nonetheless potential post-trade to the Giants. He mentioned the issues Cubs followers wished to listen to, maintaining alive a modicum of hope Bryant may return within the offseason He indicated nothing can be dominated out, and, it seems, he certainly meant that. Bryant said Thursday there have been “very preliminary talks” with the Cubs on “shorter-term stuff.”
His focus now could be on getting the Rockies into the postseason, and his basis with the Cubs will play a component in that.
“It’s just a part of me and it’s part of who I am,” Bryant mentioned. “It’s part of why I’m able to be in the position that I am today, and there’s a lot of gratefulness and thanks to be had all around. … A special time in my life, and I won’t ever forget it.”
There gained’t be weren’t many acquainted faces when Bryant appears to be like throughout to the guests’ dugout in the course of the four-game collection at Coors Field. Right-hander Kyle Hendricks, catcher Willson Contreras and supervisor David Ross are his solely teammates remaining on the Cubs from the 2016 championship group. Bryant mentioned he all the time knew Ross would make an awesome supervisor and may be very pleased for his success, although he couldn’t move up an opportunity to rib Ross.
“I mean, it’s hard to see him as a manager because I just think back to ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ ‘Saturday Night Live,’ looking like a fool,” Bryant mentioned. “But a really good friend of mine, and he’s always been in my corner, and I’m always going to be in his corner — just not when we’re playing each other.”
When knowledgeable Bryant had talked about his stint on “Dancing with the Stars,” Ross joked, “I’m going to kill him.”
Ross, although, has Bryant to thank for his Instagram account (GrandpaRossy_3), which has greater than 451,000 followers. One evening throughout 2016 spring coaching, Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Dexter Fowler have been speaking about Instagram whereas at dinner with Ross, who was out of the loop on the social media web site. Bryant advised him he wanted to have Instagram. Ross arrived within the clubhouse the subsequent morning, and Bryant alerted him to the “Grandpa Rossy” Instagram account he began for the veteran catcher.
Ross replied: “Why the hell do I need grandpa? I’m still playing.”
Ross appreciates these reminiscences and every part he witnessed Bryant deal with from the stress and expectations that surrounded him ever for the reason that Cubs drafted him with the No. 2 choose in 2013.
“I see the human side a little bit more than like the production side — I mean obviously his numbers you guys get to see and can judge that,” Ross mentioned. “But what I see is a guy who cares a lot about how things are perceived, how his teammates feel about him, how he’s viewed publicly. He cares a lot about being a really good baseball player and he’s a good family guy.”
Bryant’s legacy with the Cubs goes past what occurred on the sphere. Bryant misplaced his grievance towards the Cubs in January 2020 after an arbiter dominated towards him gaining an additional yr of service time. The determination got here 4 years after Bryant filed his grievance, which got here after successful National League Rookie of the Year in 2015. That yr the Cubs stored Bryant within the minors to begin the season for simply 12 days at Triple A to work on his protection, as then-President Theo Epstein defined why Bryant was not a part of the opening-day roster.
The new collective bargaining settlement addresses the service-time manipulation Bryant confronted in two methods. The top-two finishers for rookie of the yr in every league obtain a full yr of service time, no matter after they have been known as up. And groups that promote their high prospects to the opening-day roster might be eligible to obtain draft-pick compensation if the participant finishes within the high threefor ROY or high 5 for the MVP or Cy Young Award.
Bryant understood he seemingly wouldn’t win his grievance, figuring out it was a tough case to show, however he’s pleased modifications have been applied.
“I’m just a little disappointed I didn’t get a rule; (Shohei) Ohtani got a rule, I didn’t get a rule,” Bryant mentioned. “Jokes apart, going by way of that course of clearly wasn’t enjoyable. Loads of media consideration on it, and I wasn’t essentially comfy with it the entire time. But I knew that I had the very best case for altering the best way the system is run, and I felt that I wanted to take it upon myself to do this for everyone.
“With all the attention and the negativity surrounding it, it was worth it.”
Bryant needs to do for the Rockies what gamers comparable to Ben Zobrist, Jon Lester and John Lackey did for him and the opposite youthful Cubs en path to finally successful the 2016 World Series title.
“I really want to embrace that opportunity I have here to do that,” Bryant mentioned.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com