Kris Bryant and the Rockies have endured a brutal start to the seven-year deal the sides agreed upon prior to the 2022 season. Since he landed in Colorado, the veteran has appeared in just 135 of the club’s 363 contests and has generally struggled at the plate even when healthy enough to take the field, slashing just .249/.329/.391 in 571 trips to the plate with the club. Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post took an in-depth look at Bryant’s Rockies tenure this morning, noting that despite the veteran’s struggles he still believes he’ll be able to contribute in Colorado once healthy.
“I know [my talent] is still in there. There are flashes of it, and I can’t wait to get out there and play again,” Bryant told Saunders.
It’s an open question whether Bryant will eventually get healthy enough to rediscover the talent that convinced the Rockies to invest $182MM in him just over two years ago, but it’s hard to deny how valuable such an outcome would be for Colorado. The second-overall pick in the 2013 draft, Bryant’s career kicked off with a bang when he slashed an excellent .284/.377/.522 in 306 games as the Cubs’ starting third baseman over his first two years in the big leagues. Those seasons saw him earn two All Star appearances, a Rookie of the Year award, an MVP award, and hoist the first World Series trophy on the north side of Chicago in more than a century. Bryant would go on to finish seventh in NL MVP voting the following year and make two more All Star appearances throughout his time with the club before wrapping up his Cubs career with a .279/.378/.508 slash line across 833 games.
That incredible talent has not been on display in Colorado, but it appears he could return to action and resume his attempts to rediscover his power stroke in the near future. MLB.com’s Injury Tracker indicates that Bryant is on track to make a relatively quick return to the Rockies, with manager Bud Black telling reporters yesterday that Bryant is slated to begin a rehab assignment later this week and could return to the big league club as soon as May 17 in San Francisco. That the 32-year-old is nearing a return hardly means his injury woes are entirely behind him. Bryant told Saunders that the disc problems and severe arthritis he’s dealing with will be an issue throughout the remainder of his playing career. Even so, the former MVP went on to note that he’s currently feeling “the best [he’s] felt in a long time” in terms of his health.
Bryant isn’t the only player making his way toward a return for the Rockies, as Black also told reporters (including Luke Zahlman of the Denver Gazette) that Bryant will be joined in Albuquerque by outfielder Nolan Jones. Jones, who impressed with a 135 wRC+ in his first season with the Rockies last year but struggled badly in 26 games this season before hitting the injured list, is said by Black to be “a couple days” behind Bryant but nonetheless figures to start a rehab assignment of his own in the near future with a return by the end of the month on the table.
Further away from big league action is right-hander German Marquez, who underwent Tommy John surgery a year ago today. Black told reporters (including Zahlman) that Marquez is making progress in his rehab and has already thrown four innings in extended Spring Training and a scoreless frame in the Arizona Complex League. That being said, the right-hander figures to require a lengthy rehab assignment once he’s ready to begin starting games, with Black suggesting that the righty will likely need five or six rehab outings before he can return to the big league mound. Marquez returning in time to pitch the second half for Colorado would be a huge boost to the club’s rotation, which currently ranks dead last in the majors with a 5.91 ERA.
I remember watching Bryant play 3b for the Cubs and a couple times he stretched out to get the ball and it looked like his shoulder was going to come out of his socket. I don’t think the Cubs did anything wrong 3b is a tough position to play and a lot of guys don’t last. The Rockies are a mess and I don’t know why they signed Bryant but I really don’t think this was the dumbest contract around.
It was one of the dumber ones.
If Bryant had produced like he did in 2021 and stayed healthy then nobody would be saying that.
Still, this was a puzzling move after Arenado trade.
The consensus after he signed was that the Rockies were dumber than the average bear.
Not because it was a bad contract but because it didn’t make sense for the Rockies of all teams to sign him. Those are 2 different things.
It was a dumbas$ contract and the Rox are dumba$ses.
As a Cubs fan, I wouldn’t have signed him to that large of. a deal. And I get that we have thr benefit of hindsight. And we all know that hindsight has perfect vision. But I was saying that even at the time. . But you’re right – the Rox, of all teams to sign him just didn’t make a whole gell of a lot of sense.
This is like when I’m golfing and I shank it but talk about how great the shot was gonna be if I didn’t shank it
Yes. They traded Arenado for pennies on the dollar only to sign a lesser player to play the position, only he didn’t. Just like Ian Desmond and a lot of their other signings. Don’t have a plan in place, just getting a guy.
Try using AI to help your posts…
If Bryant had produced like he did in 2021 and stayed healthy then nobody would be saying that.
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But Bryant was not overly healthy, and at age 30 was likely to decline. I think the whole idea of signing a 3B so you could convert him to a LF was odd to start with.
Shades of Ian Desmond where you sign a guy and then try to find a position for him.
Part of the reason Bryant wasn’t healthy was because he was playing 3b. I think making him an outfielder made plenty of sense I don’t believe it’s anything like the Desmond situation.
What free agents don’t decline during the life of their contracts? The Red Sox are paying Devers an insane amount for an insane number of years. Bogaerts is under contract I believe until he’s 40. Free agency is usually doesn’t add up.
The Rockies netted Austin Gomber and….nothing. Man, that still passes me off. Jeff Bridich couldn’t have messed that up worse.
… And his contract money is likely fully warranted… Lucky player… A huge loss for the team…
Signing Kris Bryant to that contract was nothing short of stupid. Him being injured pretty much since he signed the deal is a surprise to nobody. The Rockies paid Bryant the money he was owed by the Cubs.
The Cubs got lucky that none of the free agents took the Cubs offer.
Baez might take the cake for worst contract.
Rendon
It’s unfortunate that injuries limit his ability to play up to his capabilities. Hopefully he can come back stronger and silence the critics that couldn’t even walk a step in his shoes.
Yeah I think people who criticize injuries kind of suck. Almost all players want to play and do their best.
What they want is irrelevant. You produce or you don’t. With Bryant, I don’t know why anyone expected him to stay healthy.
Like Rendon right? They want to play their best? Bryant was was overrated to start. You have to go back 5 yrs? IN 2021 he hit .265 25/73. Those numbers demand a contract for 182? What was the second bidder for his services?
Owners do dumb sh..well, you know.
Rendon is an idiot. That’s one player. He doesn’t represent all players.
The backend of this contract unless he is dealt in a salary dump somewhere he will be a DH, the Rockies didn’t give him that money for playing on the field anyway.
So what’s the worse contract in MLB today?
Is it Bryant?
Is it Rendon?
Is it Stanton?
Is it Baez?
Of those you listed, Rendon’s
Stantons contract is worse.
Rendon has managed 3.9 fwar since signing, 2.5 of which came in the first season. Over $60M per win above replacement assuming he doesn’t break the 1 fwar mark again (seems a safe bet)
Stanton’s contract runs for 4 more years and even if he also has 0 fwar in that span, he’ll have cost $12M per win above replacement, 5x better
You truly don’t appreciate either how bad Rendon’s contract is with his meager “production”
You are talking about what’s remaining. I was saying overall I was including what’s already happened not just from today on.
All of the above
Does Strasburg contract count?
Has to be Rendon, but Bryant is giving him a run for his money. The book on Bryant went from “he’s great when healthy, but good health seems to elude him” to “he’s average at best when healthy, so he’ll spend the rest of his career just trying to make the best of it.”
@Crash_n_burn I’ll rank the top 10 worst contracts in the MLB from the past 5 years to today. Most of these guys are dogs
1. Stratsburg
2. Chris Davis
3. Rendon
4. Baez
5. Bryant
6. Jed Lowrie
7. McCullers
8. Stanton
9. Pujols
10. Sandoval
You can make cases for Lindor (way overpaid), Dexter Fowler, Jason Heyward, Jordan Zimmerman, Madison Bumgarner, Ellsbury, Zack Cozart, Rodon, and there are probably others that I’m missing to crack the top 10 but that listed is a solid accumulation of dogs
Trout should be mentioned as well. Less than zero trade value at this point. In fact, less than zero trade value since the end of the 2021 season. One of the worst contracts in sports, not even a chump like brian cashman is enough of a stupid idiot to take on the rest of Trout’s contract at this point.
If ever Trout wants to be traded his trade will be decided by owners. His value is in how many ticket he can sell for the team not in how much WAR he can accrue.
Tickets sold do not cover a 40mm contract on an aging guy. A player who has alot of injuries. If Trout wants to be traded, the Angels will have to pay almost every penny of his salary.
More than a quarter of a billion $ (!) left on Trout’s albatross contract.
Linder isn’t anywhere near the worst contract, more like one of the better ones. He’s been worth about five wins a year.
@LFG can we add a dishonorable mention of Patrick Corbin being in the last year of a 6 year $140M deal that has seen him post a 4.63 FIP and an 83 ERA+?
A lot of padres fans would trade Xander for Bryant right now send some cash with him.
@Yoshis Javelin honestly I forgot about Corbin. I still got these other guys over him because he doesn’t get “hurt”. Its clear though that he doesn’t try as hard as before. Once these dogs get their money, they don’t try as hard
Simm6 hours ago
A lot of padres fans would trade Xander for Bryant right now send some cash with him.
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Are you sure? I’ve brought this up with SD fans in the past, and some think it is a great contract.
Lindor is worth every penny.
@draker 34 million a year for 10 years for below average hitting with great defense? You can find guys like Nick Ahmed, Nicky Lopez, Luis Guillorme, etc. who would do just as well for a 34th of the cost that Lindor’s contract pays him. Yes their hitting isn’t as good as his but the difference is marginal compared to his contract
Lindor was 22% above the average hitter last year to go along with his great defense and silver slugger award and not to mention top 10 in mvp voting. Along with being out there nearly everyday. He missed what 3 games in the last 2+ years?
He is an average hitter this year to start as he devoted alot of time to help his teammates minors and majors to get better themselves. Almost every video you can see of spring training he was seen working with the young guys instead of on himself so he didnt do his usual prep. Even with that he actually is not far off his number to this point from last year which he won the silver slugger award. Not sure if Ahmed or Lopez won one of those Also outside of his first year with the mets he is usually top 10 mvp.
Are you seriously suggesting that any of the players you’ve mentioned could carry Lindor’s jockstrap on either side of the ball? Watch baseball much?
The list of bad contracts should be a warning to every would-be GM on this site who wants his team to spend countless millions on the star of the day. In his early years with the Cubs, Bryant had the world by the tail, and his agent was able to persuade Colorado that his past was also his future. Obviously, that hasn’t been the case, and there are still five years to live with that reality
I forgot to add Correa as an honorable mention. There are just so many of these guys that its hard to remember every single one of them
Correa is a bust and way overpaid. He is also injury prone and anything is possible with him,
Add Vernon Wells , Mike Hampton and Kevin Brown to that list.
kevin brown is one of the few 100M that ended up being about even so i wouldnt rate it a bad contract unless all you going by is his last year or two. Then I would throw judge harper machado bogearts etc etc in there as there is no way the last couple of years will be good especially with judge already being injury prone.
now chan ho park i would rate as bad and carl pavano.. What did he get paid a mil a start back then for the yankees?
as of right now i would add degrom to that list as well. Hopefully the surgery gets him back to where he was pre-injury woes for the last few years. 2019 was his last full season (you could count covid 2020 as full season but me personally is not a full load)
His current contract has paid him over 1M per inning.
Degrom is old and the Rangers kept looking as his stats in the past. Schervzer also a old bust for them. They waste alot of money there on guys who contribute zero.
Strasburg.
I was referring to Kevin Brown because he was traded only like 2 maybe 3 years into the 7 year contract. So it was somewhat bad for the Padres. Speaking of Padres. Eric Hosmer’a contract was awful too. I think SD is still paying him.
think you have the wrong kevin brown
kevin brown was traded to the padres from the marlins and the padres let him go in free agency after 1 year with them. He signed his big contract with the dodgers and traded to the yankees for his 6th and 7th year.
I forgot he went to the Dodgers. I didn’t know he was traded for Derek Lee of all players. I forgot DLee was on the Padres. That was prior to the 2003 season. So it was 5 years into that contract.
“Disc problems and severe arthritis” do not sound like the type of health issues one recovers from to be an effective athlete.
If Bryant retires will it be like a Strasberg case where there is still some years left on the deal
Long term contracts are very risky, Clubs are better to focus on drafting, development and trades while dishing out reasonable contracts instead of overpaying.
Aka, the Braves
Like paying kids under the table.
Then young players need to be paid a lot more and much more quickly.
Tell the MLBPA to push for that. They won’t, but that’s who needs to address it.
84,
They made some positive strides with the last CBA, but they need to make much bigger changes the way the game is evolving towards using
more younger and cheaper players.
You just described the Atlanta Braves
This is why I think deals 10 years and longer should have at least 1 opt out. 13 years is a long time for Harper. There’s gonna be a point where the Phillies are gonna need to reset and rebuild. I wouldn’t want to be part of potentially 2 rebuilds in that time frame.
Another wonderful deal
Player does nothing
Makes million and millions of dollars
And they have the balls to complain they are not treated fairly
The players can go shove it
Kris Bryant was massively underpaid early in his career. Look it up.
Not really. He pretty much maximized his arbitration contracts by winning Rookie of the Year and MVP the next year.
He was lucky that the Cubs sent him down in 2015 or else he wouldn’t have made as much going into free agency after 2020.
You are misremembering some things.
Arbitration by it’s own definition means the guy is underpaid. And prior to his arb years he was making league minimum playing like an absolute stud.
Like I said massively underpaid. And the only reason people say he’s overpaid now is he’s been hurt.
How much should he have been paid then?
He won the freaking MVP while getting paid league minimum!!!
Look it up dude
I don’t need to look it up. He had record-setting salaries for his service time cohort in 2017 and 2018.
And arbitration does not mean he was underpaid, it means the player and club can not agree on a salary.
Record setting salaries lol. Yeah they felt guilty and gave him a million for 2017 instead of league minimum. Still nowhere even close to what he deserved. Not anywhere close.
In baseball the 3 arbitration years are supposed to be 40 60 80. In other words year 1 the player gets 40% of what he’s worth year 2 60% and year 3 80%. It’s designed for them to be underpaid all 3 years.
Where does it say 40 60 80 (% of worth) in the CBA?
That’s what it is I don’t know where it says so. It’s literally designed to make sure they are underpaid until reaching free agency. And that’s the arb years the 3 years before that are league minimum unless the team feels guilty and tosses the player a couple extra bucks.
He’d still be over paid even if he was playing. KB hasn’t actually been healthy since ~2017. This was a stupid contract and anyone that paid even a small amount of attention to baseball knew that.
That’s definitely not in the CBA.
It also took 6 years for the “manipulation trial” to be solved. All for nothing to change.
Players, including Bryant, are underpaid severely for the first 6-7 years of their Major League careers.
Boo hoo to the owners who once in a while have to eat a contract that overpays the player.
The owners can go shove it.
At least they got rid of that bum arenado to pay Bryant a ton.
Hindsight is 20/20 but I was always glad that Hoyer traded Bryant, Rizzo and Baez in 2021. It was definitely time to move on, and now that move looks even better. Between Rendon, Baez and Bryant, I’m not sure who’s got the worst contract.
Yep and of course everyone cried about it. Meanwhile other teams put off rebuilding forever and let their guy leave for nothing. Sometimes you have to make tough choices.
Bryant is past prime already, his quality years began in 2015 to 2019, since then he has been somewhat of a journeyman to below that.
He got the huge money now he just needs to save it for future because no one is going to be buying what he is selling.
Here are some guys who are completely finished in MLB:
Bryant
Degrom
Scherzer
Maybe Verlander.
Why the ROckies bothered with Bryant nobody will ever know. They have a long history of terrible FA signing busts. They got Borassed.
Agree about deGrom and Bryant never being able to play a full season again. Scherzer was great but is near the end at 39 years old. However JV is like a cat with nine lives. Don’t count him out yet.
@robw5555, signing Bryant was such a bad decision considering they could have just kept Arenado who was getting paid the same and was a 2 to 3x better player overall. That made no sense to me
I am not sure Arenado wanted to stay there. He may be on the block this yr but has a no trade. That makes long contracts worse. Signing for huge money and then they have a no trade deal, making it harder to move them if that ever becomes possible.
No…they got em-borassed !
Unless degrom goes to the bullpen he can’t stay healthy anymore, starters can’t keep throwing 100 mph for extended periods of time
Max and JV are future HOFers for a reason, they have insane willpower to keep pounding
Willpower???
Lol at this dumb comment
It takes a lot in order to be a perennial cy young contender idk how you don’t understand that
Right, who would have thought that a mega contract for a 6’5 guy who was already at least 3 seasons past his prime ans who turned 30 before he played his first game wouldn’t work out?? Who would have thought??
Paul Goldschmidt is a big guy with a mega contract. Won the MVP at 34 years old. If you never signed players past 30 you wouldn’t have a very good team.
Freddie Freeman is 6’5” and signed a mega contract with LA at 32. He’s doing ok. *Still thankful Atlanta chose Olson*
Dudes like this break the system. This is why ownership doesn’t and will continue to be hesitant to pay. Bryant cashed out, and whether his fault or not, doesn’t really care at the end of the day he got paid but put barriers for the next guy in line.
Again people want to ignore how massively underpaid players are early in their career and focus on the free agent deal they get later. Bryant earned that money with his early career success. He’s hurt. He didn’t “cash out” he’s simply hurt.
No one is ignoring it. They just don’t share your flawed idea that a team needs to pay a player for what they did previously (for another team). If the players want to address how they are paid early, they can focus on that in the CBA, they don’t seem too concerned with it though, based on what they choose to target.
If you aren’t paying free agents in their decline years then who on earth are you paying?
and hence the Boras 5
If Bryant wasnt such a greedy person he should just man up and retire as he’s just stealing money from the Rockies. I know they mutually agreed to this ridiculous contract but Bryant isn’t living up to his end of the bargain and should do what’s right. He won’t though.
Were the Cubs greedy when Bryant was putting up MVP numbers for league minimum??? Did the Cubs pay him what he was worth for helping them win a World Series???
You have a point but are you Kris Bryant’s #1 fan you’ve already pointed this out
I am a Cardinals fan lol. I have no love for Bryant at all I just don’t like all these lame comments kicking a guy while he’s hurt.
sad tormented neglected mariners fan5 hours ago
You have a point but are you Kris Bryant’s #1
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Just because someone points out the obvious does not make them a fan.
This is just standard fare. You get underpaid for half your career and then get overpaid for half your career.
He said the same thing above so I didn’t know why he was saying it again
I’m sure the Cubbies paid Bryant a HUGE signing bonus when they made him the # 2 overall pick when he was drafted. Both parties know the salary rules and I don’t blame Bryant for taking the money from the Rockies, as they weee dumb enough to offer him this absurd deal, but he’s clearly not performing up to expectations which is why I suggested he retire. If this was the NFL he would have been cut…and this is why the NFL is the most successful of the 4 major sports as they understand how to mange (most of the time) these albatross contracts
The contract wasn’t absurd. He’s not performing up to expectations because he’s been hurt.
Earth to jayheck: Baseball ain’t the NFL and “4 major sports” screams Murica, F@&k Yeah!
chunky…did you READ what I wrote or are you just blind…I said “IF this was the NFL”….. if you’re going to make a disparaging comment like the one you made at least get it halfway right! F@&kNO
I’m not the one who’s blind. Dumb Sportsball Fans think one sport should equal another.
Blackpink in the area4 hours ago
The contract wasn’t absurd.
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The day the contract was signed, I said the Rox would be better off trading him to the RS and throwing in $56M. That’s how bad it was.
Turns out they’d have to throw in $100M, but still………
He’s been non stop hurt since he signed. It’s lame to act as if you knew that would happen.
Most free agent contracts don’t work out.
This doesn’t read like a guy that’s “close” to coming back, let alone being effective.
“I guess it’s hard to speak on because I’m not a doctor, but the discs in my back are pretty much dried up, so there’s a couple of discs that … they don’t function like they did 10 years ago,” Bryant said. “My facet joints are a little — not a little — they are pretty severely arthritic, and (there are) a lot of bone spurs and stuff like that. It’s just part of getting older. That’s the way the doctor explained it to me. So I just have to find a way to manage it as best I can.”
Disk problems and severe arthritis don’t go away. Bryant was a major health risk when the Rockies signed him. He was considering moving to first base because his diving for balls at third had beaten him up.
Not to sound like “one of those guys,” but I hear people speculate that this is what happens after you take PEDs. I heard whispers of it from a guy who was in the Cubs front office during Bryant’s playing time here in Chicago, so it’s not just fan speculation. No way to know for sure, of course, and they do have testing. If I hadn’t heard it directly from this former front office executive, whonis now with an American league team, I wouldn’t even mention it.
Bryant is the NL version of Anthony Rendon, but it seems that Bryant at least still likes baseball. Bryant is just better at check cashing than playing baseball…
For all of the Giants Faults recently, they have yet to get pulled into a bad contract like this.
Dude the Giants traded for a guy in Robbie Ray that’s already hurt and has a huge contract. They didn’t get unlucky they CHOSE to trade for him.
The Giants have been doing less with more for a few years now. The fact that they haven’t had bad luck with injuries and are still where they are is an insult not a compliment.
3 years left on his contract at 73 million. A Cy young winner. And a trade like you said. Maybe I should have clarified as free agent cont act they have yet to be pulled into. I didn’t think I was going to have state in lament terms. But ok. 8 years at 182 I believe. They have yet to be pulled into a bad contract like that. When they very easily could have resign Bryant themselves. Because they traded for him. These longer term contracts are horrendous and hurting the game in my opinion.
The contracts are the way they are because the players get screwed for their first 6 plus years in the league. The Cubs kept Bryant down in the minors for a couple weeks of his rookie season in order to gain an extra year of team control off of him. And most athletes best years are those early years. So you are almost guaranteed to make bad decisions in free agency.
Giants are in a similar spot to my Cardinals. They got money but aren’t doing the little things to make for a quality baseball team.
Players getting screwed is all perspective. Yes some are with that extra year (service time ) loophole. I agree. And I remember when Bryant was held back. Still won rookie of the year I believe. But players are getting extensions early as well. They just have to play their hand right, agents mostly. That’s a crap shoot, not getting screwed I don’t think.
The Cards are or were the cream of the crop when it came to home grown talent and letting pujols go, ala a bad contract. They knew, we all knew. That’s too many years, for a farewell tour.
I think when the Gs had bonds and avg. 75 wins a year or so, they drafted Timmy, Madbum, Posey. But also had one the greatest GMs ever. Farhan is a joke if you ask me. But smart enough to skirt those huge freaking deals that are albatrosses. Maybe the one for the Korean player becomes one. Not sure. But it’s a catch 22, if you don’t spend 25-35 percent above market value, you get nobody. Teams I believe are starting to catch up to this. Like the Cubs with Bellinger.
He’s always been weak mentally and physically, it’s finally caught up to him
This saga could’ve been written the day Bryant signed. Honestly, how could they have been that foolish.
Next in the albatross list is Devers. Two tool player, worst fielding third baseman in MLB. The same team that signed damaged goods Giolito to a fat contract without an MRI. How/why?
I will always have love for KB. I really hope he can get back to his mvp status. Even 2/3 of that KB would make this awful contract somewhat worth it. He has to stay on the field though.
Kris Bryant’s theme song should be “I Left my Heart (and durability) in San Francisco”
That under 19.5 HRs bet just keeps looking better and better.
Underpay
Not blaming Bryant for getting paid. It’s just that unless you have the cut throat dedication of a Tom Brady, your body slows down in your late 20s – 30s compared to where you were at 21. 162 games is a lot. I am not taking the owners’ side but it’s bad business paying a guy plus 200+ million in his 30s, especially a position player.
Create a new financial system or baseball will continue to be the garbage it is and has been for quite sometime. Only reason half these rules are in place is ownership doesn’t want its $250+ million dollar investment arm to fall off
Total waste