Kris Bryant Speaks: No Hard Feelings, Trade Rumors, Denies Turning Down Huge Extension, More

Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant arrived at Spring Training this morning, and immediately addressed the media in one of the most impressive player press conferences I can recall hearing in recent memory. Bryant was open, honest, clear, candid, relatable, and informative. Forward-looking, but acknowledging the unknown. Bryant was clearly just speaking his mind, and in a tough spot, to boot.

I’ll try to get the full presser audio in here as soon as it’s available.

I logged what I could while I listened, so I’m just gonna pop it in right here, together with some of the video that was snagged on-site. The “news-iest” part is this, though:

So … an extension is still plausible with Bryant? Yes! That’s good!

It’s hard to square that with the weight of rumors for years now, but Bryant was very clear. I think it’s reasonable to presume that, of course, he is still open to an extension with the Cubs, but we also have to keep in mind that top-tier third basemen in recent years have signed seven and eight-year contracts in the $250 million range. Bryant may understandably price himself in that range, and that’s where the conversation on the two sides gets a lot more challenging.

The rest from the impressive presser:

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Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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