Kris Bryant said talk of baseball's latest megadeal was boring.
But Bryant, the 2016 National League Most Valuable Player who can become a free agent after the 2021 season, joked Tuesday while discussing Mike Trout's reported 12-year, $430 million-plus extension with the Angels.
"If everyone keeps signing extensions, there will be no free agents," Bryant quipped. "If I'm the only one (free agent), more teams will want me."
Trout's new deal comes three weeks after Nolan Arenado and the Rockies agreed to an eight-year, $260 million extension and on the heels of the two biggest free-agent contracts in major-league history: Bryce Harper's 13-year, $330 million deal with the Phillies and Manny Machado's 10-year, $300 million deal with the Padres.
For now, Bryant, 27, can wait on his lucrative payday while the Cubs try to return to the World Series for the first time since 2016.
"There hasn't been any talk (about a long-term extension)," said Bryant, who will earn $12.9 million this season. "I think (Cubs Chairman) Tom Ricketts has a focus on going with what we've got now and seeing how things play out at the end of the year.
"Obviously, he's the guy running the show and the team, and I don't think here's been any talks with anybody. It's just a different period for us this year. Not a bad thing. Just go out there and win and focus on this year rather than get ahead of ourselves and sign everybody to an extension."
While he's putting talk about his long-term future on hold, Bryant said he's hopeful of remaining with the Cubs.
"Any time you can show a loyalty to the team that drafted you and you came up with and established relationships with those people, any human being would want to do that," Bryant said. "It's no secret that everyone in this clubhouse loves playing in Chicago. We love everything about this organization.
"Everyone in this clubhouse would want to finish his career with this team, myself included."
