Three are gone, two to go:
Cubs Kris Bryant signs for $ 19.5 million. MLB confirms source confirms
– Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) January 15, 2021
This figure is above MLB Trade Rumors’ arbitration estimate for Kris Bryant, which was $ 18.6 million.
Still, it is good that he and the Cubs reached an agreement before the deadline and even avoided the possibility of an arbitration hearing.
KB did not have a good short season of 2020, although most of that was due to injuries. The Cubs obviously expect him to regain his pre-2020 form.
Below is a text that I will post in all articles on Cubs 2021 arb player contracts, so bear with me, you will probably read it again.
Players and teams can still set a contract value before going to an arbitration hearing, even if they changed the values on Friday and didn’t get it right. The last Cub to attend an arbitration hearing with the team was Justin Grimm in 2018. The Cubs “won” this when the referee awarded Grimm the $ 2.2 million Cubs offer instead of Grimm’s request for $ 2,475 millions. So the Cubs saved more money with Grimm by releasing him just before the date when they would have to pay him a bigger part of his contract.
“As always, we look forward to developments.”