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We’ve reached the part of the Kris Bryant business rumor cycle where various national people are going to weigh in, and not all is going to warrant the discussion. With all the appropriate love for the locals, there’s a little bit of space that won’t really dig TOO deep into the merits of this or that, and sometimes that means saying stupid things. Usually I hear it, decide it’s not really worth reading, and move on.
I had to make an exception for this one, not only because it provides an opportunity to take stock of contracts, but also because of the names involved – it was too silly and fun not to share:
In reality, what is a @Cubs @Nationals trade looks like?
“If you did Bryant for Starlin Castro, does that line up? … It’s not the same in terms of value, but is it the best you can do? it.”@Mike_Ferrin | @Jim_Duquette pic.twitter.com/PGQzU3ASN5
– MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (@MLBNetworkRadio) November 30, 2020
Former Cubs fan favorite Starlin Castro has established himself as an average league hitter since leaving the Cubs (.278 / .315 / .430, 98 wRC +), and he can play anywhere on the pitch competently (more second and third now than short, though).
He’s a perfectly good player to have on your team, especially if you were looking for more contacts. So I’m not going to get rid of Castro, who was once Bryant’s teammate, and then gave him the ticklish fight of his life.
But let’s be serious for a moment. Castro, who broke his right wrist in August, signed with the Nationals to a two-year, $ 12 million contract before last season, of which $ 7 million is owed to him in 2021. He is under contract to ‘free agent, and he’s in the second most expensive year of that contract after sustaining an injury and getting older for a year. If he was a free agent now, he wouldn’t get close to $ 7 million on a one-year contract. Maybe he gets a million or two?
In other words, if the Cubs were to trade Bryant with the Nationals – as so many rumors keep suggesting – it certainly wouldn’t be entirely normal for Castro. The Cubs would almost certainly prefer Bryant not tender and save his full paycheck, rather than take Castro and his paycheck. It wouldn’t make sense, especially if, as the MLB Network team says, that’s Bryant’s level of worth.
It was a blunder. A non-tender is a better comeback for Bryant than Castro right now. And the Cubs aren’t going to non-bidder Bryant, so, no, Castro isn’t Bryant’s market value.
Now let me bail out these guys for a bit. On the one hand, their main point was correct: Bryant doesn’t have much business value right now, so concocting trades that work is a challenge. Plus, it’s not that hard to imagine a Bryant-for-Castro swap working * IF * Castro and his paycheck were basically used as compensation to strike a bigger deal. For example, Bryant for Prospects X and Y, then the Cubs take over Castro and his contract. The Nationals are saving money, the Cubs can use Castro at third base if they want to, and maybe the Cubs get better cuts than they would for Bryant directly.
Wild bonus, just for the lulz? At the start of spring training, Starlin Castro will be another 30 years old. Kris Bryant just turned 29.
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