End of an era: The Cubs trade Kris Bryant to the Giants

From Bleed Cubby Blue:

Anthony Rizzo, Javier Báez, Kris Bryant.

All free agents-to-be after 2021, none signed to contract extensions before the season, and with the team not doing well, a fire sale seemed likely.

Now it’s happened, and KB is the final domino to fall:

Let’s try this in English without a grammatical error: The San Francisco Giants are in agreement on a deal to acquire Kris Bryant from the Chicago Cubs, sources tell ESPN.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 30, 2021

Kris Bryant was NL Rookie of the Year in 2015, NL MVP in 2016, and he started the play that clinched Game 7 of the 2016 World Series for the Cubs. He’ll always be a World Series champion Cub, along with the other two traded in the last two days.

As is the case with these deals as they are reported, we do not yet know the return from the Giants for Bryant. There had been rumors earlier in the week that Giants catching prospect Joey Bart might be part of a KB return, but those were debunked.

From NBC 5 Chicago

The Chicago Cubs came into the 2021 season with three players entering the final year of their contracts, and now all three have been traded away, as third baseman Kris Bryant has reportedly been sent to the San Francisco Giants.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan confirmed the trade, which had been speculated about for weeks.

According to reports, the Cubs will receive outfield prospect Alexander Canario and pitcher Caleb Kilian from the Giants in the Bryant deal.

Canario, the ninth-ranked prospect in the Giants’ system, has appeared in 65 games with the Giants’ Class-A affiliate this season, with nine home runs and 29 RBI’s to go along with 15 stolen bases. He has struggled with strikeouts, with 79 in just 238 at-bats.

Kilian, a 20^th-round pick in the 2018 draft, has a 6-2 record with a 2.13 ERA in 15 starts between Class-A and Double-A this season. He has struck out 96 batters in 84.2 innings of work.

Bryant, the 2016 National League MVP and a four-time All-Star, had 18 home runs and 51 RBI’s in 93 games with the Cubs this season. He posted a slash line of .267/.358/.503, and is set to become a free agent at season’s end.

Bryant has frequently been the subject of trade rumors during his time with the Cubs, but after the team fell out of contention to start the summer, it seemed inevitable that he would be moved.

His run with the Cubs ends with 160 career home runs and 465 RBI’s. The team made the playoffs in all but one season of his tenure with the club, and he was a key member of the 2016 squad that won the World Series.

Now, with Bryant to the Giants, Javier Baez to the Mets and Anthony Rizzo to the Yankees, the Cubs will look toward a future without three of the biggest stars the team has ever had.