March 14--It's been almost one year since Kris Bryant's demotion to Triple-A Iowa, which the players union declared a "bad day for baseball."
Bryant was at the center of the storm in spring training last year after hitting so well the Cubs had to come up with the rationale he needed to work on his defense at Iowa before being called up. The reason for the move, most believed, was Cubs wanted to have Bryant as their property for seven years instead of six, and had to demote him to make sure he didn't have enough service time.
"I'm glad I'm not in the center of it," Bryant said Monday. "This is great. I'm just another guy in the clubhouse and that's how I want it. It's good to have some other guys here that are pretty big-name people, Jason (Heyward) and those other guys. Good to be another guy and kind of blend in here and have fun and win some games. Hopefully we win some more spring training games. But it's really good to be myself."
Bryant was sent to minor league camp last March 30, prompting the MLB Players Association to say in a statement: "Today is a bad day for baseball. We all know that if Kris Bryant were a combination of the greatest players to play our great game, and perhaps he will be before it's all said and done, the Cubs still would have made the decision they made today. This decision, and other similar decisions made by clubs will be addressed in litigation, bargaining or both."
Bryant filed a grievance, then came up in April and went on to become the National League Rookie of the Year. He said Monday he was "not doing it for recognition," and just hopes the rule changes for future major leaguers.
After Monday's meeting with Cubs players, MLBPA head Tony Clark was asked about Bryant's grievance.
"We don't talk about grievances," Clark said. "I won't even acknowledge if there is one or not."
Bryant pointed out he wasn't the only player who was affected by the service time issue, naming Anthony Rizzo and Dexter Fowler as others who were stuck in the minors later then they should've been.
Bryant said he expects baseball will "do things in the next (collective bargaining agreement) to alleviate that, but I don't know how much they're going to talk about it."
Bryant didn't want to talk much about the process, or if a rules change in the next CBA could make him a free agent after six years instead of seven.
"If that happens that'd be great, but I don't really know how that stuff works," he said.
The subject is almost certain to be brought up in CBA talks. Clark said any time you have a service-time based system "it suggests that there are potential manipulations that can happen."
There is not much talk about the issue this spring because there's no rookie like Bryant who is tearing up spring training and making it obvious he belongs.
"The fact that we were having the conversation (last spring) wasn't beneficial to the industry," Clark said.
