![]() ![]() The lowballing Rizzo on an extension offer during the spring. But at the same time, it’s just been going on for so long now.”Īll the uncertainty and the talk of trading guys. All the talk about building the “next” championship core. “That’s obviously a good spot to be in, if you want to keep the team together. “You look at our division, and it’s there to be had,” Bryant said. #CUBS SCORE SERIES#Which leaves them playing for themselves and for the right to continue playing together one series and one week at a time. Whether the owners of one of the richest revenue-producing franchises in sports will pay any of them to stay beyond July or this fall is another matter. Said Hoerner: “The focus is on being present, being here this year, and knowing that these guys are on the field right now and how special that is.” “We have a very limited focus with it,” Hendricks said. So good luck predicting or thinking too far out what might be next for any of this team. And that 2017 team wound up winning the division and its first-round playoff series. That was eight months after winning the World Series. “But if we do win, it’s going to be hard to make any changes.” “We can’t control what is being said or what any of the front offices do or any of that,” he added during a wide-ranging conversation Wednesday in Pittsburgh. In fact, in conversations during the road trip with NBC Sports Chicago, that’s exactly how players said they're approaching the season these days - as a fight to keep the core together for another week or month at a time, to make it tough on the front office to do anything else. On the other hand, what if they make that impossible to justify or play just well enough to make a decision like that painful? #CUBS SCORE FREE#Shortstop Javy Báez and Rizzo are the other core free agents who could fall into that category if team president Jed Hoyer can justify a selloff with a roster of short-timers built for it. And in a season that looks nothing like any of the previous six during the competitive window that began with Bryant’s 2015 rookie season, they could be in position to defy expectations as foils not only to the likes of the Cardinals and Dodgers but also when it comes to their own front office.īryant already is being called the best hitter on the projected midsummer trade market. And even Trevor Williams reversed his season trend for a night Wednesday with his best six innings of the season. Closer Craig Kimbrel is moving up the all-time saves leaderboard on Hall of Fame track again. Bryant is playing like an MVP contender - with three more hits and two RBIs Wednesday. Some of the laughing this trip was tempered by Nico Hoerner’s bad hamstring strain Tuesday night.īut Hendricks has regained his footing after a slow start. ![]() We don’t know what it’s going to look like,” said ace Kyle Hendricks, who opened the road trip by beating the Cardinals and finishes the trip with a start Thursday in Pittsburgh. “We don’t know what the plan is going to be by the end of this year. ![]() That’s really all we can do.”Ī few more days on the roller coaster and the Cubs were in Pittsburgh, clinching their first winning road trip of the season with Wednesday’s 4-1 victory, staying within a half-game of the Cardinals in the National League Central and still laughing - without a damn clue what the front office’s plan is for the trade deadline, much less whether it'll dump or make more attempts to extend any of the three All-Star core guys who can become free agents this year. “We’re riding the roller coaster, too, a little bit, but having fun with it. “And then we lost the next game, and now we’re sellers. “We won the first game, and Rizz and some of us were all joking around that we’re buyers at the deadline now,” Cubs star Kris Bryant said, referring to teammate Anthony Rizzo. Louis an indicator of what the front office might do in July at the trade deadline. PITTSBURGH - Heading into last weekend, some of the old-guard Cubs laughed at breathless media reports declaring the upcoming series against their first-place rivals in St. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |