Oh god, cue the outrage from Scott Boras and tortured Cubs fans – barring an injury, Kris Bryant won’t start the year in the majors. And hey, Javier Baez won’t be there either!
#Cubs option Javier Baez to Triple-A Iowa and send Kris Bryant and Addison Russell to minor-league camp.
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) March 30, 2015
Bryant hit approximately 800 home runs this spring for Chicago, and the Cubs not breaking camp with him indicates that they’re not serious about winning and have no idea what they’re doing.
(or something)
The necessity to send Bryant to AAA makes sense from a business standpoint. Gaining that extra year of control is huge for the Cubs, and it probably won’t cost them all that much in terms of wins and losses this season.
The decision to demote Baez is also not all that shocking after his midseason promotion in 2014. Yes, Baez is an extremely talented 22-year old, but there are still flaws in his game. After being promoted August, Baez hit .169/.227/.324 in the majors with nine homers (good!), five steals (good!), and 95 strikeouts (bad!) in 229 plate appearances (ouch!). Not breaking camp with him is the right move, regardless of what some doomsayers may be spouting off about.
It’s looking like that with those two going down, Mike Olt and Tommy La Stella should be in line for more playing time this season (at least to start). Hey, both guys are just 26, and it’s best to find out if you have anything there before cutting bait once and for all.
